Normally, I am a very careful person. Living with multiple sclerosis and going through neck surgery have made me that way. I don’t take unnecessary risks. For example, I would never jump out of a perfectly good airplane or bridge, even if I had a parachute or bungee attached. I don’t play contact sports with my friends as I used to. I won’t play football at all because even two-hand touch can get physical. If I am doing work in or around the house, I try to use proper lifting techniques and am always working on improving my posture. I do all of this because I know what it is like to go through a serious trauma and I know how fragile this life can be.

Even a person as careful as myself can fall victim to an accident, literally. A few months ago, I was teaching a class and wanted to reference something I had written on the board behind me. I was seated in a rolling chair and pushed myself backwards to roll towards the board. This is something I have done a million times during my classes before. As my chair began to roll back, I reached up towards the board with my left hand. My chair must have caught a rivet in the rug and the force of my hand pointing up at the board started the chair tilting. At that moment, I knew I was going over.

My arm that was pointed toward the board, was now bracing for the fall. I put my palm out straight and as my chair hit the floor. My arm took the brunt of the fall. I bounced up immediately and continued the class, but I knew I was hurt. I told my wife when I got home that I had messed up my arm. She said I needed to go see someone about it. And I did, two months later.

For two months, I had been living with the pain. It was affecting my sleep and my strength on the left side. Still, I held out hope that it would heal on its own. I was in the middle of publishing my second book, I had speaking engagements on the calendar and a lot of travel booked. There was extra no time for dealing with an injury. I also have two very busy boys who need their dad, so I ignored the pain.

In May, I came down with a horrible sinus infection. It was so bad that I thought it was pneumonia or something else. While I was at my doctor appointment, I mentioned my fall and told her about the weakness, numbness and pain I had been experiencing since my fall. She wanted me to get an MRI done immediately so that she could see the extent of the damage. The MRI revealed a partial Labrum tear in the shoulder.

This kind of injury would not heal on its own. I went to see a sports medicine doctor and he gave me two options: surgery to repair the damage or a shot of cortisone and physical therapy. I opted for cortisone and physical therapy. The first thing the physical therapist told me was that I needed to be more careful!

Falling or being a risk for falls is a major problem for someone living with a chronic illness. Dr. Mario Trucillo of Total Recall Center wanted to share information about falls.

Dr. Mario: “Did you know that falls are the second-leading cause of unintentional death? Not many people do. We’ve made it our mission to educate and encourage safe behavior with hopes to help prevent slips, trips, and falls. In doing so, we’ve created a graphic that outlines a few simple tips on how to prevent these types of accidents from occurring”.

He also wanted me to share with you some tips for avoiding falls:

 

For this and more information about preventing falls and other useful advice please visit Dr. Mario at: http://www.recallcenter.com/prevent-slips-trips-falls/