Active responses decrease impact forces at the hip and shoulder in falls to the side

Active responses, such as using the arm to break the fall, may be an effective means of decreasing likelihood of injury in a fall and may help explain why only a small percentage of falls result in a fracture. We quantified the impact force at the hip and shoulder in falls to the side from a kneeling position under three conditions: (1) attempting to break the fall by using an arm; (2) falling with the body relaxed; and (3) falling with the body tensed. Subjects fell from a kneeling position onto a force platform array covered with foam padding and impact force data were recorded. The ground reaction force–time curve was generally bimodal due to sequential impacts of the hip and shoulder. Impact forces at the hip and shoulder were 12 and 16% less for the slap condition ( p