Hey guys,

What is the farthest fall that you have experienced. I fell about 20 feet last Sunday off a combination of scaffold and an extension ladder. I am a little banged up but it should have been worse. Luckily I landed on a grassy area that was a little soft. I made a heck of an indention where I landed. As long as this shoulder is better by November I will be o.k.

Wow, nothing like that. Seems like you'd be sore for quite a spell after that. Do any testing to see if you did long term damage? 20'? Holy Cow man.

If you had landed on your head, you would be uh, history.

The soreness has been UNREAL! I dislocated my left foot, bruised my right foot, took a bunch of skin off the back of both legs (just above achiles), dislocated my left shoulder, sprained my right knee, broke my nose, busted my lip, and split my head open. They did tons of x-rays and ran a CT Scan too. Overall I got real lucky and maybe had some help from above! I am not totally sure just how it happened either.

Yep. You are so right. That is why I consider myself very lucky.

Stepped off the side of a ladder fire truck with ice creepers on my boots. Truck was doing about ten MPH down a ice cover hill. Creepers acted like ice skates and I passed the fire truck while gaining speed. The only thing that kept me from skating into the fire was an open manhole.

It was not twenty feed down but is was good I was young. Took months before I was back to at least 90%.

fell 26 feet of the peak of a roof and landed on my feet, some how I managed to just break my ankle and not very bad, not a year later i fell about 30 feet off a ladder that was on a fork lift (OSHA wasn't happy) and caught my elbow on the forks on the way to the ground and broke my arm.

Scott,
I can't imagine falling down a manhole. Sounds like that would do some really serious damage.

Myron

25,000 feet....really....at night.

There was a small spot on my left earlobe that didn't hurt after the first month, everywhere else did.

Nose, jaw and elbow only thing broke. I lived.

I plunged 10 feet off a ladder one time.

I still hurt, and that was 15 years ago.

wilkeshunter,
Sounds like you kinda got beat up all over. Wonder you didn't break some bones.

I fell from a standing position on flat ground, (more like body slammed). I'm not totally clear on how it happened, but broke my pelvis and popped a large hernia. (No alcohol involved; it was too early in the day). I spent six weeks hobbling around on a walker before I was able to take more than a couple of steps to walk on my own.

The pelvis healed up nicely, but the bruising was painful, and this hernia surgery hurt much worse than one I had repaired 30 some years ago.

It was not a fun way to spend the summer, but I'm back working again (for now. I'm hoping to retire within the next few months as I'm just too old to put up with the constant backaches that I have had for years, and they are worse than ever since my fall.

Myron

HALO jump?

Worst fall distance wise was about 10'. I fell out of a tree i was messing around in as a kid. Nothing seriously hurt, bit the hell out of my lip and had trouble walking for a few days due to ankle pain.

Worst fall pain wise was a simple slip on some ice as i was pushing something heavy. My feet slipped out from under me and my back popped out of place just above my pelvis. I spent three weeks pissing in a jar in bed because i couldne hardly hobble to the bathroom without passing out from the pain. 6 weeks and 21 visits to the chiropractor, i felt much better, but my back will never be the same.

Yep. Sometimes we opened that high too. Spooky ride at night.

not if he was a democrat....

it takes at least that, to knock some sense into one...

I have personal experience on a couple of projects where folks fell 8' and died while one became a quadriplegic after being in a coma for 9 months. Doesn't take much.

Not the farthest but definitely the funniest �

In one of the nursing homes one day, I leaned forward too far and rolled right out of my wheel chair. The tumble was slow enough to let me twist a bit to one side and take the very soft impact on my shoulder.

Thumped the deck right behind a nurse � almost but not quite close enough to brush the backs her legs.

Her reaction was hilarious. She screamed (and probably dampened her undies). Was quite shaky for a good while. Probably didn't sleep well that night.

'Twas all a big hoot for me. Ne'er a twinge except in the laugh muscles.

Worst fall I ever took was about three feet


Off a motorcycle


At 60mph


Seemed a bit rash...

I imagine a HAHO would be right "invigorating"

Speaking of the commercial that used that line my brother said that he always degraded that commercial.........until he fell and couldn't get up. I still can't understand why he couldn't roll over on his stomach, get on his hands and knees and use something to pull himself up but I've never been in that position. He often remarked that God showed him why he shouldn't mock others.

Not saying God struck him because of his mockery but God reminded him of it when he got down. Toby was, indeed, a self made millionaire and very proud but he became humble before he died. He was a millionaire and I'm a thousandaire...what's the big deal? I have all the money God can trust me with.

About 40 years ago, still in my mid teens, I spotted a mountain lion very close. I had my Marlin 30-30 and got off an excited shot and missed. The lion took off and jumped off a ledge about 12 to 15 ft high. I ran and followed him off the ledge in a flying leap and landed in loose shale. Twisted my ankle and tore ligaments, but I managed to hold my rifle up so it wouldn't get scratched. That ankle still bothers me some all these years latter.

I fell 32' to a concrete floor while installing a glulam/TJI roof system on an Albertsons store back in the mid 70's.
Dislocated shoulder, hip, and broke every rib on the right side of my body as well as rupturing several blood vessels in my lungs. I actually got up and walked away, but not for long.
Electrician on the same job fell off a 6' scaffold and was paralyzed from the waist down.

I was young and bounced well back then. No doubt the same fall would kill me now.

My farthest was about the same as yours, only it was into a snow drift. I didn't get hurt, but it took some work to get out!

Glad to hear you're going to be OK.

Ed

They got dropped on their head in infancy or at birth.

Had the climbing strap on a Summit stand come loose and I fell 22 feet. (Summit quickly agreed to change the design so this could not happen again) I was lucky that there was this big flat rock there to break my fall and I hit head first. 28 staples to close the scalp and broke my left ankle when it twisted out of the strap on the stand. Should have died that day but guess it proves that only the good die young!

First time I took a bath after my stroke and rehab, it took me half an hour to an hour to get out of the tub. I was on my back and couldn't roll over. It took me another half an hour or so to lizard-crawl on my back into another room where I could pull the 'phone down and call a friend for help. Once he helped me get to my feet, I could get around more or less "all right."

Regardless of why you can't (or understand why you can't) do the normal, logical thing � when you can't, you can't.

highest? two scaffold sections up, but grabbed some scaffolding on the way down before hittin the concrete, all it did was pop my shoulder out of socket...again


funniest, climbing up a beginning sweeper tree over the river we were floating, after calling and a cow crossin I could hear a bull on the other side in the tall willows but could NOT see him.

the tree looked almost like a ladder and bent enough to scale the trunk pretty easily until I reached branches that I could use like the rungs on a ladder.

left my client hunkered down behind the brush and scampered up that tree to get a look, about halfway to two thirds up where I wanted to go, one of those rungs let out a sharp CRACK and gave way under my right foot, I was moving too fast, and my balance shifted hard to the right, was clawing air trying to grab something, but must have looked like Wiley Coyote clawing the air.

I hit the bank and the water at the same time, upper body hittin the bank, lower in the water, but the bank rolled all of me into the water. Keplunk, kersplash (note to moose hunters: this is NOT an effective way to bring in a bull)

decided to get up before I drowned in 18 inches of water and squished back over to my client. Wetter than sop. He said "you want to go back to camp and change?" me "no this is prime time, let's see if that bull will come out" yahhhhh right, so we stayed there till dark, and as the sun went down and my adrenaline subsided I began to get a mite chilled.....imagine that.

dry clothes and a campfire never felt so good back at camp. My god but I was miserable and embarrassed.

I had no idea that there was any "soft" ground up there in the mountains.


Mike

Mickey I love that term thousandaire!


when my oldest boy was about 7 or 8 he was trying to get a handle on "how we were or stacked up" he knew we lived a pretty good life so on the way to school he asked me "dad do we have a million dollars?" No son, we don't. "Dad do we only have a hundred dollars?" No son, we've a few more than that, we've got several thousand dollars, we're okay on money but not wealthy"

few months later we were headed to Hawaii, and since his baby brother was a lap baby, his mom and sis and I sat in one row of three seats, and Trevor had to sit across the aisle, one row back. I could keep an eye on him so it was all good.

He struck up a conversation with the adult next to him and during the conversation he pointed out his family "that's my dad there he's a thousandaire"

had never heard the term before and where he came up with it was beyond me. I'm sure the guy he was sitting by was duly impressed.

Fell into a water well one day. 24 feet to the top of the water. I fell straight down, wearing heavy boots and a tool belt. I never hit bottom.

To this day, I believe God was watching over me, like He did the day I was struck by lightening and knocked about 20 feet.

(both were not on same day)

Great stories guys! I am glad that so may of us came out o.k. for the most part. Most stories like these are a little funny but in reality they are quite serious situations, as we all know. Be careful out there fellas and thanks for posting, it really picked me up! Time to ice my shoulder again.

A couple of 3 footers banged me up pretty bad. First one, I was on a ladder, halfway out a roof hatch when the ladder slipped. I caught both arms on the edge of the hatch, tore the rotator cuff in the right arm. Left was sore but PT seemed to straighten it out.

About 3 years later, I was coming down some steps and caught a heel on the 3rd step. Fell forward onto my knees and popped the patellar tendon in BOTH of my knees. That's the one that goes over the kneecap and attaches to the shinbone. With it gone, there is no way to 'lock your knees' when your weight shifts, your knee buckles and you fall.

Surgery (not even allowed to stand for 2 weeks after) leg braces, rehab etc. for 6 months. I'm pretty good now but going downhill still hurts a bit.

I have fallen from 6 feet or so but the shorter ones did the most damage.

Dale

Summer between my freshman and sophomore years in high school I fell off a bridge to the bank below in the dark. 52 feet. Spent a fair amount of time in Baptist Hospital in Nashville.

Have a fair number of aches, pains and the beginnings of arthritis that I deal with as a result. All-in-all, I got away pretty good for what might have been.

Wow! I can't imagine.

I also imagine it's a quick cure for "trust issues"..............

...constipation as well.

45 to 50 feet.

I was in high school. A friend and I went hiking. Something BIG chased us. It would stop at the edge of the brush and parallel us. Eventually I got a bright idea to bail into the canyon below where we'd be in the relative open of the creek bottom.

One last sprint over the canyon lip with "it" gaining ground. We were running down a scree slope. There was a bush ahead of us. Pat went left of it. I hurdled it. What I didn't know was it was sitting at the top of a very small canyon or crack ... while he had scree slope, I had nothing but air. I flipped at least twice, maybe 3 times on the way down. I hit on scree or talus. My feet were still in front of me enough they didn't dig in and "posthole". My landing tracks were about 10-12 feet long, I hit on my ass on the steep slope, ricocheted outwards a little, dropped another 10 feet, and kept right on running.

It wasn't 'til we got to the creek side and looked back up that I really realized what I'd done. Ho-lee-she-itttt.

And we never did see what was chasing us.

Tom

I tripped over my dog and went over a balcony in the Rockies when I moved here. Fell maybe 8-10 feet and landed on my hands to brace the fall. Tore the tendons in my hands and as I was laying on ky hands by then, could not push myself up.

Must have looked pretty silly laying on my colapsed hands but the wife came ti the rescue. Some hospital, physio and a few months and I was ok.
John

It was an interesting experience to say the least.

So many things came out of it as most anyone who has been through a serious trauma can attest to. Most of it good really. Some funny/weird/quirky snippets of memories. Some are hilarious, to me anyway. Some are gross and some are flat out spooky.

I ended up with a pretty good handful of broken and cracked bones. Some injuries that didn't really show up until later. Damaged organs etc.

The only regret I have is that Johnny Cash was in the hospital at the same time and the nurse told me that he had said it would be alright for some of the younger patients in the hospital came to meet him. I just didn't feel up to it and passed. Wished I had taken the time to go and meet him.

Not necessarily the highest - but the most recent.
10/10 of last year, I took a header off a feed truck - landing on a sack of feed. After not healing, and finishing the years feeding, I had surgery the day after Quemado (Aug 12) to re-attach my bicep.
Being always careful, I managed to turn over the Polaris Ranger last Friday (10/4), while in pursuit of some cattle (badger hole was involved, along with high speed). As I went over, I thought the roll-cage would land on me, so I jumped out the top and landed about 25 feet from "The Wreck"
After laying for a bit, doing a self-exam (everything but the brain was working) I got up - - - then "The Warden" started on me.
Physically, I'm OK - but tired of having my IQ flashed at me on a constant basis!
Thanks to our Lord for the angels on my watch that day!

Mark