What is the worst fall you've taken?

[Kev]

Worst: When I was 3 I fell off a wall and cracked my skull (explains a lot)

Most embarassing: I was at a bar really shitfaced, and was walking to a bathroom and fell down 2 stairs because I wasn't paying attention (it wasn't a staircase, just 2 stairs). I fell down the same 2 stairs the same exact way about 15 minutes later when we were leaving.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: NFS4
1) About 5 years old...

LOL, for a second I thought this said 5 years ago.

 

[Bryophyte]

Most painful and inconvenient fall was shortly before we moved to a new state. We were going to drive the u-haul down and dump off our stuff, come back, and then move for good with less stuff + the kids. I tripped over a mop or broom or something in the kitchen the day before we were due to drive the truck down, and tore the hell out of my shoulder. The doctor was sure I broke it, but it was just torn up. It was *really* hard to finish packing, take care of little kids (one was still exclusively nursing), and move when I had my arm immobilized and in terrific pain. It sucked. It took several years for my shoulder to be completely back to normal.

 

[jupiter57]

1986, I was a Millwright torquing bolts on a Coal Transfer station. Walking 8" I-beams from column to column, safety belt on but no place to hook it, (but real men didn't hook off anyway)!
Was on the second level, 30 ft. off the ground, stepped in some grease around the elevator cables. Next thing I know, I'm looking at the ground, seeing large, red "globs" hit the ground, and everyone was hollering at me from the ground yelling "Don't Move, whatever you do, don't move!"
Apparently, I had stepped in the grease and slipped and fell. I would have hit the concrete 30 ft. below if not for the mid-beam at 15 ft. with a 1-1/2" uni-strut that was holding a light catching me in the right ribcage.
Turns out, the red "Globs" I was seeing were wire nuts!
Broke 3 ribs and "separated" 2 more, but I stayed on the job, although I had never experienced such pain in my life, nor have I since.
One of the Engineers on the job "made" me go to the Dr. a few weeks later, but by then, the ribs had already began healing, and all the Dr. could do was wrap me with an Ace Bandage.
Took well over a year before I was able to get in or out of the bed without assistance, usually just slept in the recliner.
Never missed a days work because of it either!
(Dang, honestly, it hurts just to even think about it!)

Edit: Even today, if I press on it, it still hurts!

 

[kstu]

I was at a lake and there was a rope swing on a tree that grew over the water at about a 65 degree angle. I decide to climb a lot higher than I should have, so there was a lot of slack in the rope. I jumped and as soon as the rope became taught, my hands slipped and I fell about 20 feet and belly flopped into about a foot of water (it wasn't a rocky lake). It was scary. I can only imagine what would have happened had I not belly flopped.

There was a quarry a little ways away from where I grew up that we used to go to because it had about a 50 foot cliff to jump off of. After a few regular jumps I figured I could handle a dive. My first try, I was vertical way too soon and kept rotating; by the time I hit the water I was almost horizontal facing the sky. Luckily, I entered with just enough of an angle to not break my spine. My back was sore for a few weeks after.

 

[adairusmc]

Near-fall - I was working installing some antennas on a grain elevator about 100ft tall, when the wind blew me over the side. My safety harness caught me, and when I got my bearing back, I threw myself back over the rail and back onto the platform. This was a picture I took earlier in the day -

Looking straight down from about where I went over


The worst actual fall I ever had was off of a single story manufactured home, onto the lawn. It hurt like hell, but I was able to bounce back.

 

[scorpmatt]

I guess I've had 2 worse falls...

1, i was 3 or 4, playing in the living room with a soccer ball, tried to kick the ball, tripped, chin hit the fireplace hearth, bit my lower lip clean through. Stitches and I still have the scar.

2, was about 10, jumping from bed to bed in a hotel room with my older sisters. parents warned us to stop or someone would get hurt. My last jump ended up with me slipping on the blankets, falling backwards and cutting my right ear. Still have the scar and a small nic where part of my ear isnt there.

Funniest fall, 20ish, working in a theater. Was replacing a light bulb in the overhead box that holds the movie title for the theater you are entering (multi-plex). Long tube light, both ends wouldn't go in. I stick one finger on the tips on one end, tips go in enough for bulb to turn and light up... sending me down the ladder with the bulb in hot pursuit.

 

[Skiddex]

Skiing at Breckenridge. Lady cut me off and i tumbled a long ways and ended up in the trees. fractured femur, emergency surgery and physical therapy. surgery a year later to get the hardware taken out, but they let me keep it

sorry, bad picture, but you get the idea

 

[fLum0x]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
I was in high school trying to be "cool" with my friends when we were rehersing for a play, and i fell off the stage.

i have seen that happen a half a dozen times in high school also. I was in theatre for 5 years there (7-12) and it never ceased to amaze people how easy it is to fall off the stage.

 

[Cookie]

When I was 12 or so I was going downhill way too fast on a gravel road on my bicycle in the days before helmets. I was going around a curve in the road and I started to tip over too far into the curve. The last thing I remember was thinking 'Oh Sh1t, this is going to hurt'. I woke up the next day in the hospital in the nearest city an hour away. I spent a week in the hospital and an extra week home from school.

Luckily my neighbor, who was a nurse, was behind me in a car. She called my dad who drove me to our small town hospital, while she held me down in the back seat. Apparently I was sitting up suddenly and screaming the whole way.

 

[GDaddy]

about 8 or 9, plugging something into an outdoor socket, it blew and sent me flying off the deck about 10 to 12 feet to the ground, other then alittle dazed people around me said i was fine.

 

[Bryophyte]

I just remembered my most hilariously embarrassing fall:

I was in the shower and somehow slipped, falling toward the curtain backwards. I remember it in slow motion...curtain was cold, falling backward until I hit the back of my head on the vanity, hitting my head the floor, then the curtain rod came down and whacked me on the head. I woke up about the time my spouse came to investigate the commotion and opened the door (hitting me in the process) and upon finding me naked, wet, lying wrapped up in the shower curtain with it covering my head, on the floor with my feet in the air, he proceeded to start laughing hysterically and closed the door to leave me alone in my pain and humiliation. :laugh: It's funny now...I was kind of pissed at the time because I had actually hit my head hard enough to black out.

 

[Unheard]

I was around 10 years old and my cousin and I were playing on the roof of my treehouse (15' or so). I stepped backward off the ledge and fell down to the ground and landed on a school desk. Got up like it was nothing, no broken bones, bruises, or cuts. Guess I was lucky.

 

[clamum]

Probably trying to do a trick off a tabletop while snowboarding, if that counts. Not the highest one, but once I went to do a backflip and as I got inverted I just sorta stopped rotating cause I got scared and ended up falling upside down. Luckily the snow was soft and I didn't get hurt or anything. I have the video around somewhere.

 

[moshquerade]

i fell off a bridge.... ok, i jumped, because we all were jumping into the water, but it ended up being a bad idea. i sank like a rock and had a hard time making it back up to the surface.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Unloading alfalfa off of a truck. Foot slipped off the bed rail, other foot planted on the alfalfa. Did the splits on the way down.

 

[thegimp03]

I was at a ski resort in Tahoe a year ago and was flying down a black diamond near the end of the day. Ended up landing off a bump wrong, and my entire right leg twisted back. I was moving down this hill, so the end result was skidding out of control for about 50 yards. When I stopped I tried to stand up and my right knee went completely sideways on me and the pain shot up. Needless to say there was nobody else around me and I had to half walk, half slide the rest of the way down to the lift. Ended up I had torn the miniscus in my knee but I didn't have to have surgery. It still took 3 months or so before I could fully support my weight and bend my right leg again.

 

[bersl2]

#1: Was trying to reach down from a bunk bed onto a desk. My feet had less grip than I though they did, and I fell. I must have landed on the back of my head, but I can't quite picture the mechanics of the fall. Either way, I missed hitting the corner of the desk by a very small margin.

#2: Standing up on the kitchen counter, I try to open a cabinet to get something high up. I fall backwards and hit the back of my head on the wood floor.

#3: It's raining, and just as I'm leaving a restaurant, some guy blindsides me like this.

 

[potato28]

So many falls... I'd say the 20 foot from a swing in 5th grade. I remember breaking a rib or 2...

Edit: Another good fall was when just this year in Vermont. Going through a tree trail, 75 degree angle drop and a small root I didn't see. Hit the root, brought up another branch that hit me in the chest, dragging from stomache to nipple area hitting all the sensitive points, and the root got me in the rib. I don't know what happened after that, but I ended up in a tree 15 feet away. Supposedly it was a funny fall.

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: bersl2
#3: It's raining, and just as I'm leaving a restaurant, some guy blindsides me like this.

Damn. Why didn't that dude stop? I'm sure he was being timed or whatever but that's more important than not totally blasting a girl walking in front of you?

 

[sdifox]

I rolled down a staircase. Washed stone staircase.

But much scarier was me braking a display window (probably 6' tall piece of glass) with the back of my head. One glass shard came down and left a big scar next to my eye. Lucky for me it went outside of the socket or one eyed I would be.

 

[MasonLuke]

age 10-12 i was on a roof of a house jumping on top of a detached garage. i needed alot of speed to clear the distance. as i ran toward the edge, i didnt elevate high enough and my foot got caught on a small wired fence and i tumbled and almost landed head first on the roof of the garage. luckily i managed to brace my fall by sticking my arm straight out. i was fortunate i only dislocated my arm where my elbow is. the bone didnt puncture the skin, but it was gross nevertheless.

 

[RichardE]

Riding up over a huge bank of sand dunes on my bike one day, went over one of the dunes doing about 25-30 only to find a 30-40 foot drop. 2 broken wrists, 1 broken forearm and a broken ankle.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Was on my swingset about age 11, got up above the plane of the top bar and gravity overcame centripetal force. Probably about 12 ft. fall, landed with full force on my back but I held onto the swing with my left hand, thus completely fracturing my left collar bone when I fell further than the swing did.

I'm lucky I didn't shatter vertebrae... just couldn't really move for a few days and had to wear my arm in a sling for 2 months.

 

[piasabird]

I was climbing a tree in my grandfathers back yard and I slipped and fell. I broke at least one limb on the way down which must have slowed me down. I might have bounced off a couple more and then landed on my back on the grass. I might have lost consciousness. I was able to get up and walk away. I think I fell about 15 feet or maybe as far as 20 feet. I was kind of young so that is probably what saved me. It is hard to say the exact distance, since that tree is around 60 feet tall now.