There are a lot of standard tripping hazards in this world that affect even the most athletic and balanced of humans. There are also a lot of tripping hazards that people walk over without giving a second thought to or maybe even noticing that they are there. When you have any sort of mobility issue you pretty much study everything you walk on because you never know what could cause you to fall flat on your face. Since not falling flat on my face is a daily goal of mine, my head is always fixed on the ground watching diligently everything beneath my feet.
Here are a few everyday things that cause me to go on high alert when out and about.
- Door Thresholds– these little bumps on any door inside or outside are just high enough to catch my toe as I walk into a room. Getting caught on one always makes for a great entrance.
- Carpet– the thicker the carpet the easier it is for my toes to get “stuck” on it. If I am wearing shoes the toe of the shoe will drag awkwardly sometimes and cause me to launch myself forward to save myself from falling on the next step. Sometimes that one launch forward causes so much momentum that I just keep launching forward until I run into something strong enough to stop me. Doing this at a party with a drink in your hand will usually cause people not familiar with you to think you are drunk, even more so if the something-strong-enough-to-stop-me is a person. If I am barefoot it is usually just my big toe that gets caught which results in me basically putting all my weight on my big toe which is now bent under my foot causing immense pain and for me to collapse on the floor. Thankfully I have never been barefoot at a party in a house with carpeting.
- Rugs– rugs of all kinds drive me crazy! The ones you have in the entryway of businesses that have the rubber border are awful because it is pretty easy for me to kick them with my toe dragging the one side until it folds into a roll so that my other foot can get stuck under the roll that I created inevitably causing me to eat it. Any rug in a house that is over an inch thick is also a hazard for my toe to get caught on and cause a fall. And the worst, and in my opinion the dumbest excuse for a rug, is any sort of flimsy material that was thrown on tile or hard wood that does not have a sticky base to hold it to the floor. I will take one step on these suckers and go flying as if we are in a cartoon and I stepped on a banana peel.
These are just a few of the everyday items people maneuver over mindlessly that cause my mental gears to grind, slow me down, and force me to focus on doing high knee steps to prevent any form of KERSPLAT they could result in.
Of course I can manage to wipe out even without them. Tripping on my own two feet, and even my very own cane that I use to help me stay upright have been known to happen on multiple occasions too!
Oh Yes She Cane! 