My mother's 92 and falls over quite a bit but carries on regardless. I hope yoou have your mother's genes and heal quickly, Hazel.

Look after yourself Hazel, and get well soonest.

Actually hair is worse than teeth. Especially as mine desperately needs a wash. I think I might try washing it today.

What complicates matters is that we have a cold snap right now (they're calling it The Beast from the East) and there is snow and ice outside. I can't risk going out until the thaw comes, because having one arm taped up affects your ability to deal with slips. But the BBC weather site predicts a thaw over the weekend, so hopefully I shall be able to go shopping on Monday and lay in supplies.

When you are all healed up, can you do breakfalls? If not, there might be a suitable aikido or judo class nearby. They are a good reflex to have.

It's great that you contacted people to get try to the trip hazard fixed.

Consider typing a lot less and listen to audiobooks at librivox.org for faster healing.

Now that's something I would never have thought of before. I believe there is a Tai Kwondo class at our local leisure centre. Would that do? Knowing how to fall safely would be a great asset for a woman of my age.

Right now I type with my left hand.

Falling safely is just a matter of right angle, using gravity to your advantage. So when you're at 90 degree decline you must try to bend into 60 degree asap.
Then it's much easier to just roll over and hit the soft spot instead of bone. Source: was a skater, broke lots of skateboards, no bones.

Tae Kwondo would be nearly only kicking. They would probably know other schools in the area though and might be able recommend some places to check out. Most any style which practices throwing people (carefully) would be good because they teach rolls and falls first before ever getting around to throws. Even certain styles of taichi will do that, though it would also depend a lot on the teacher(s) there too, and might be rare. Jujitsu might also be an option. Again, as fun or interesting the other activities are, the rolling and breakfalls are probably the most important.

As elcore describes it is rather simple in concept (curl up a bit asap) but there are a few finesses to make it comfortable and safer. Thereafter it comes down to practice so it becomes natural, and with mats and a good teacher helps things move along quickly. Be sure to watch a class or two first to make sure they are ok and not goofballs or punks.

What worries me is that I seem to have momentarily lost consciousness during the fall, maybe from shock. I have a very clear sensory memory of catching my toes in the right angle behind the ridge and thinking "oh no!" and then of falling onto my back with a thump, but I don't remember anything in between. While I was in hospital, I managed to reconstruct the sequence of events simply by deduction:
1) I must have fallen forwards because I landed on the pavement and not on the ramp.
2) The first contact with the ground must have been with my chin because I have a bad bruise there, but it must have been only a glancing blow because there was no damage to the jaw or teeth.
3) I must have been spinning on my axis because I then fell (very hard) onto the right arm and shoulder. Finally I rolled onto my back and lay still.

One of the two friends who brought me home had been watching and she pretty much confirmed the sequence. But she also says that she saw me fling my arm out, which is not something that I would normally do. When I trip and fall, I always try to tuck everything in and roll. So maybe I had actually blacked out. Would breakfall training still work in that kind of situation?

Yes, falls and rolls are practiced in all directions, first from sitting, then kneeling, then standing.

Dealing with blackouts might be a bit harder. When rolls and falls are practiced enough to become familiar the "muscle memory" kicks in at least a bit anyway but with much less control. However, it's possible that the excitement of the event caused a brief forgetting of just that instant.

Yes there are plenty of athletic ways to fall.

Meanwhile, I've fallen a few memorable times and typically one has but time to do what I would coin "half" a movement, including a partial thought.

Or you have seemingly infinite time to lament that when you land, it is going to hurt because you are in the midst of a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon movement, sans pulleys and wires.

Looking back at what you wrote originally Hazel, I've fallen just like you said, "tripped over something", therefore "trip-BANG!", and it was all over before anyone knew it had started, including myself. Yes I got my hands out, not extended, so my knuckles got extremely bloodied. It was a fun 2 or so weeks as everyone gander-ed at my hands, asking, "What the hell happened to you?!"

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a concrete curb where you tipped it with your toe because you didn't lift the leg up too much, or a trolley track, I've kicked quite a few of those in my day in spite of the fact that they are level with the ground.

I did not lift my foot up enough going up some concrete stairs. My momentum was going forwards and forcing me to face plant the higher stairs. Excepting having the balance and leg flexibility/strength to have arrested the fall entirely, I think if I were to take a shoulder rapidly in that case, it would've put my head more at risk of hitting either the side rail or doing a quick bounce against the stairs. In that case I'd rather get what I got, or jammed some fingers if I had gotten then up enough.

Well, I'd rather have a broken arm than a broken jaw, which is what I might have got if the first impact had been harder. Do you think that could have knocked me out briefly? Just wondering.

If there are no cuts or bruises, then take the medical advice. Tell them you think you blacked out, they'll check you for concussions or other things, and then listen to your body. If your neck is all stiff and junk and it lasts for more than a few days, then probably something more serious happened than a quick jar where you sprained muscles.

Breathing, Bleeding, Shock ... priorities in first aid.

It could just as easily have been the excitement or acute surprise triggered as your foot tangled and you started to fall.

Time can sometimes appear to go slowly or just plain skip a moment during the excitement of accidents.

But the medical doctors would be the best to check with about things.