As an orthopedic surgeon, I have seen patients who wanted to stand up quickly after a fall, but fell again and caused secondary injury; I have seen patients who came to the hospital for treatment after a fall, but had a fracture and displaced; I have also seen patients who disagreed after a fall, but did not take it seriously. The patient with a fracture was found when he was sent to the hospital a few weeks later.
It may be people’s first reaction to stand up immediately after a fall, but it is wiser to judge the injury by yourself after a fall.
The first step: think. Try to remember your fall posture and landing position. Based on this, follow-up targeted self-examinations are carried out for injuries that are prone to occur in different landing postures and landing positions.
Step 2: Hope. Check your injured area carefully for damage, bleeding, etc., carefully observe the swelling of the injured area, whether there is any abnormal appearance of the limbs, abnormal position of the limbs, etc. If the injury is found to be swollen in a short time, and the appearance is deformed compared with the contralateral limb, it is a sign of heavier injury.
The third step: touch. Press the injured part with moderate strength, and at the same time press the healthy part of the opposite side of the injured area with the same strength. If the injury is obviously painful, it can be judged as “significant tenderness”. If you induce obvious tenderness, you need to be vigilant.
The fourth step: move. Control the activities of the adjacent joints in the injured area and the corresponding contralateral joints. The range of motion gradually increases from a small range. If there is obvious pain or even abnormal joint movement, it is a sign of a serious injury.
After the above 4 steps, the injury can be basically understood. If signs of serious injury or suspicious fractures are found, the necessary treatments such as “braking, cold compress, fixation, and transportation” can be carried out and then sent to the hospital.
