What is the best way to land when you are falling?

You gotta roll with it, no not the song. Yeah basically the impact of any fall has to be spread out as much as possible. Not confined to one area, commonly the feet or arms. Instinctively when we fall our bodies tense up anticipating what’s to come. An arm will invariably be used to cushion the fall. No, the thing to do is to try & roll into the impact. Hopefully lessening the chance of serious injury. That’s what I do anyway, but then I always wanted to be a stuntman :¬)

Maybe you should ask this guy!

@cubozoa: In that case Mr Potter had a chance to stay close to some slopes which he used to slow his free fall speed down a bit as you can read here: (“I was slipping down on ice and snow and I tried to lose some speed at that point but it was very difficult – my speed gathered pace very quickly,” he said. “But then every now and then I would go over a cliff edge and any speed I had lost immediately came back because I was just free-falling at that point. “And then I would hit more snow, another slope, so I would go with that slope for a while and then go over another cliff…and it went on and on”).
In his case he used whatever was avaialble to him to slow his fall down and he was successful. I tried that once when I was falling from the ladder, but ended up being worse in my case because then the ladder fell on top of me and I got more messed up than if I had not grabbed from it.
@ucme: it makes sense to try to roll as you fall. I hope I don’t have to use that technique though, but if I have to I will keep that in mind.

You can read How to survive a 35,000 free fall and pick up some pointers.

I did some sky diving, just 4 jumps, in college and they trained us to hit the ground a certain way to minimize injury because even with a parachute you’re still hitting the ground hard and fast. And I only gave quick glance at the article @Cruiser but in article they say:

)”.... a 1963 report by the Federal Aviation Agency argued that shifting into the classic sky diver’s landing stance—feet together, heels up, flexed knees and hips—best increases survivability. So I’m going with the classic sky diver’s landing. Also we were trained to land that way and then kind of ball up and roll, as @ucme talks about, in sort of one continuous, fluid motion. ” Assume the position, hit the ground, ball up and roll.

It seems like the best way to go. And you can practice it without a plane or a parachute or anything. Before we went for our actual jumps the folks from the flight school came a tall platform and we did practice jumps.

The only problem with that is that you are making a conscious, deliberate choice to jump and because you intend to jump you’re ready and able to hit the ground in a conscious deliberate way. And there’s a fairly long way down so you can prepare yourself. Accidental falls are something all together different. If you fall from a latter, you don’t have any time to prepare and your instincts and reflexes kick in I think.

What you really need to do, in my opinion, is take better safety precautions when you are in circumstances where you might fall. Really, falls can almost always be prevented with basic, pretty well established procedures and precautions. If you’re unwilling to do these activities in a safer way, then I suggest you spend some time and practice falling and practice the landing and hope that your “training” kicks in next time you tumble off a roof or a ladder. And try not to land on your head.

@lillycoyote, you are right there is a big difference between the two cases for falling and accidental falling in no way prepares you mentally for remember the best strategy for landing. On the other hand, ucme has a point in that as one falls the best way to absorb the impact is to figure out a way to roll in as you hit the ground so that not all the hit is taken by one single area of the body.
I definitely learned some good info here with you guys, it all makes sense. Hopefully I don’t have to use these techniques again, just need to be consciously thinking on all safety precautions I must take before doing some activity that may pose some danger.

@MatChup I applaud your desire to maybe try to take more of the “safety first” approach; I think it’s best to avoid falling in the first place, but if you change your mind and don’t want to go that route you might want consider getting a Dodge Charger and putting it under the the edge of the roof or the ladder, not sure how you’d manage that, getting it under the ladder though, whenever you go on one of your “vertical adventures” and think you might fall.

@lillycoyote, man 39 stories fall, that’s unreal; he was quite lucky that Dodge Chatger was there, huh!! I guess these cars don’t meet safety standards if a tree falls on the car, hmmmm.

@MatChup I’m not really vouching for it as reliable safety procedure. I just happened to come across it and thought I would pass it along.

FALL 39 STORIES AND LIVE! With the new Dodge Charger!

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