Recovery From A Slip And Fall Accident
If you have fallen and are in recovery from a slip and fall accident, it is sometimes a long process of recovery back to healing. Depending upon the injury involved (see here for more details on common latent injuries), recovery can take you from two or three weeks to several months. There are also stages of soft tissue injury recovery that are important to know here. If your job, which you did before the injury requires heavy lifting or other physical activity, this may keep you out of work for an extended period of time, which can interfere with your ability to make money or pay pressing bills.
Recovery Steps
Here are some steps you can take to aid in your recovery which may speed up the process, so that you can get back to normal as soon as possible and return to your livelihood:
- Get plenty of rest. If you have a back injury, or other injury which involves your spine or muscle areas, the best thing you can do is to get the rest you need. Allow your body to heal itself by letting injured areas of your body recover naturally. If you have a lower body injury, such as your legs or torso, it often helps to put your legs up on a high pillow or elevate them.
- Try small but non-strenuous exercises to slowly recover muscle groups. This should be done with care and only under the supervision of a doctor. But to fully recover from a slip and fall injury, you need to start exercising your muscle groups again in order to return to normal. Don’t overdo it or stretch your muscles beyond what you can stand.
- Physical Therapy may be necessary. Physical therapists are trained in helping people recover from physical injuries, such as those that are prevalent in slip and fall accidents and injuries. If you feel you would benefit from this, see a physical therapist to work on the injured areas. They can gradually bring your use of the injured areas back to normal over time.
- Chiropractic Care helps. If you have a spinal injury, back injury, neck injury, or other which involves the vertebrae, chiropractic help may be your answer. Chiropractors are specialized doctors which have been trained to manipulate the specific vertabrae and areas of the spine, including those involved in common slip and fall injuries. They start with a consultation which usually involves an x-ray and evaluation, then they will work on the specific areas of the spine which were affected, if they feel they can help you. This type of medicine is considered alternative medicine but is becoming much more widely accepted by many as a viable, credible type of therapy for accident injuries.
- Occupational Therapy- Another option to help with your recovery is to employ the help of occupational therapists. These highly trained individuals are used to help you perform the tasks you perform on your job again, to get you back into working condition. This can be a very valuable thing when you have been the victim of a slip and fall accident and injury. They work with you individually to work on very specific muscle groups or areas of your body which you need to do your job, including hand-motor coordination, fine motor groups, and other areas.
Slow And Steady Gets It Done
Recovery from a slip and fall accident can be slow and it can be a painful process which must start slow at first. But by getting plenty of rest, slowly increasing your level of activity and employing the use of skilled therapists and chiropractors, you can be back on your feet and working in a shorter time.
Remember, if you have fallen due to someone’s negligence, that’s where we can help; see our article on fatal slip and falls for more details on how to proceed.