How to lift a heavy person who has fallen

Sitting Up in Bed

To move a person who is lying in bed to a wheelchair, put the chair close to the bed and lock the wheels.

If the person is not strong enough to push up with their hands to a sitting position, place one of your arms under the person's legs and your other arm under their back.

Move the person's legs over the edge of the bed while pivoting their body so that the person ends up sitting on the edge of the bed.

Keep your feet shoulder-width apart, your knees bent, and your back in a natural straight position.

Sitting up in bed

Standing Up

If the person needs assistance getting into the wheelchair, position the person's feet on the floor and slightly apart. Face the person and place their hands on the bed or on your shoulders.

Your feet should be shoulder-width apart with your knees bent. Place your arms around the person's back and clasp your hands together. Hold the person close to you, lean back, and shift your weight.

Nurses, physical therapists, and others in hospitals often use lifting belts fastened around a person's waist to help with these types of movements. The caregiver then grasps the belt when lifting the patient.

The only thing worse than a fall is not knowing how to get to safety afterward. Thankfully, by following some simple advice, you can help your loved one off the floor if they have fallen and can’t get up. By remaining calm in such a situation, you and your loved one can recover and get back to your lives in no time. Read on to learn the best way to do this.

Elderly Falls and Calling 911

It may be your instinct to call 911 after a fall. But, by talking to your loved one and determining their injuries ahead of time, you can save you and your loved one the time and energy by determining whether or not this needs to happen.

If your loved one is unconscious, there is not much you can do without medical training, so calling 911 is the best choice. Take a quick scan to check if your loved one hit their head, has broken teeth, and/or is bleeding from an open wound. If so, it’s important to call emergency services to get these injuries treated.

On the other hand, if your loved one is awake and able to speak with you, ask them if anything hurts. In the event that they are in extreme pain, they might have a broken bone. Hip, foot, spine, and arm fractures are some of the most common injuries that result from a fall. Someone with a bone break will need medical attention, so this is another instance where you should call 911 and keep your loved one where they are.

How To Lift Elderly Off Floor 

Before helping anyone off the floor, ensure your loved one stays where they are for several minutes. Dizziness often causes falls, but falls themselves can also worsen feelings of lightheadedness. Staying in the same position for a short time will ensure any remaining dizziness passes and prevents another fall from happening once someone stands.

Once the person who has fallen reports they are feeling well enough to get up, follow the steps below. Be sure that your loved one is doing the majority of the work and you are mainly there for support, since pulling them up can cause further injury.

1. Gently guide your loved one as they roll onto one side.

2. Give some help as they kneel on both knees.

3. Once they are in a stable position, bring a non-rolling chair over to them.

4. Tell your loved one to place their arms on the seat of the chair.

5. Gently support your loved one as they adjust their position to kneel on just one knee.

6. Once they are in a stable position, bring a second non-rolling chair over to them.

7.  Tell your loved one to place their arms on the seat of the chair in front of them.

8. Gently help your loved one use their arms AND legs to push up to standing.

9. Support their back as they slowly sit in the chair behind them. You can guide their hips and tell them to use their arms to feel for the chair before sitting, but do not lift them up or push them down.

How To Get Up By Yourself From the Floor After a Fall

In the event that you are by yourself when you fall and don’t have anyone to help you get up, it’s possible to carefully get up on your own.

Many of the steps are the same as those you take when deciding whether or not to call for help, but some differ and are important for your safety.

1. Do a quick body scan to see if there is pain anywhere in your body. 

2. If you feel any pain, nausea, or lightheadedness, call for help before getting up. Each of these symptoms can cause you to fall again, so it’s best to seek assistance before trying on your own. 

3. If you have gone through the above steps and have the “all clear” to get up, first be sure that several minutes have passed since your fall.

4. Once you are calm and ready, roll onto your side.

5. Slowly use your arms AND legs to push yourself up on all fours (your hands and knees).

6. If a sturdy structure or piece of furniture is nearby, scoot toward that and use it to get yourself to a kneeling position.

7. Use your arms to stabilize on the furniture and slowly pull one leg up. After this, one knee should be bent on the floor and the other knee should be bent with its foot flat on the floor. This is the “down on one knee” position, as if you are proposing.

8. Keeping your hands on the external structure, slowly pull the knee on the floor up and put your foot flat on the floor so you are in a standing position.

9. Use your arms to straighten the rest of your body so you are standing tall. If you are using a chair to lift yourself, sit in the chair.

Please note that if you are injured and cannot get up, use a medical alert button or cellphone. If you don’t have either of these readily available, try to make as much noise as possible to get the attention of someone else in the house or a nearby neighbor.

Falls Should Never Remain Secret

While it might be tempting to neglect mentioning your fall to someone else, especially if you weren’t injured, this is not the right move. After a fall, it’s important to assess (potentially with the help of someone else) why you fell in the first place. 

If your fall was due to pain, weakness, or difficulty moving, then it may be time to get rehabilitation so you can get around more easily. By mentioning this to your doctor, you can get connected with physical therapy or occupational therapy services to get stronger and more independent. If your fall was due to an obstacle in your household, you should make some adjustments. Family or friends can help with simple changes. But, if you aren’t sure why your house is so hard to get around or need to install equipment like grab bars or a stair lift, an occupational therapist can assist. Contractors can also make your home more accessible by making more large-scale home modifications such as installing a walk-in shower.

The point is that telling someone else about your fall can prevent it from happening again. If you aren’t entirely sure why the fall occurred, telling a doctor is still the best option. Falls can occur due to an underlying health condition, so a physician’s diagnosis is often the first step to getting it under control.

Devices to Lift the Elderly Off the Floor After a Fall

Thankfully, we are living in a time where there are devices to help us with nearly everything, including fall recovery. There are seat lifts that are designed to give someone a boost and get to a seated position after a fall. If that isn’t the right fit for you, you can take advantage of inflatable emergency cushions that gradually help lift someone off the ground while they remain safely seated.

For caregivers who want to better help their loved one after a fall, the backpack vest is a great way to prevent further injury by utilizing someone’s body weight to transfer them to another position. There are also full-body patient lifting systems for weaker or heavier individuals who need assistance that caregivers cannot safely provide. 

One of the most revolutionary of these products is the IndeeLift Human Floor Lift for Fall Recovery. This allows individuals more independence in helping themselves off the floor the safe way. Once someone uses the above steps to safely come to a seated position, they can sit on the platform and hold the handrails located on either side. They should then use the remote to engage the mechanism that slowly lifts them to standing. To learn more about each of these devices, read about the Top 5 Fall Recovery Devices.

Author:

Brittany Ferri, OTR/L

Brittany is an occupational therapist who has worked in a variety of rehab facilities. She has always expressed an interest in patients’ internal motivation for therapy and the use of assistive devices, which led her to pursue a PhD in Integrative Mental Health. This research-based training has also led her to develop her writing career to educate patients of all ages on how to improve their health. Brittany has published four books, written over 300 articles, and has been quoted in media outlets such as WebMD, Healthline, and NBC News.

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