Get Off the Floor (When You Can't Kneel)

In the last article I showed you the toe lean – the one exercise that actually trains your body to catch itself when you start to wobble.

But the toe lean won’t make you un-fall-able. Everyone falls eventually. The real question is what happens after.

If you can’t get back up, that’s when a fall becomes a crisis. You lie there. Your muscles start to waste. Your confidence shatters. You start avoiding going out alone. The cascade is real and it’s fast.

Standard advice says: roll onto your hands and knees, then push yourself up. That works fine – if you can kneel.

But lots of people can’t. Bad knees. Hip replacement. Recent surgery. Arthritis. Or you’re just not built that way anymore.

I couldn’t kneel either. Dermatomyositis robbed me of my muscles. So I had to find another way.

The Method: Chair-assisted Recovery

This technique comes from Will Harlow, the same physio who explained the toe lean. It works on any hard or carpeted floor. You need one sturdy piece of furniture – a sofa, a sturdy chair, the bottom of a staircase.

Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Assess

The moment after a fall is confusing and a bit scary. Take a breath. Check yourself. Are you hurt? Dizzy? Bleeding? If anything feels seriously wrong, don’t try to get up – call for help instead. Your phone should be within reach (and if it isn’t, that’s something to fix before the next fall).

If you feel okay and just need to get up, proceed.

Step 2: Roll Onto Your Side

Bend your top knee and push with your arms to roll yourself onto your side. This is easier than it sounds – you’re moving just a few degrees, not trying to do a somersault.

Once you’re on your side, use your top arm to push your upper body off the floor. Aim to get your torso upright, supported by both arms behind you. You should end up sitting on the floor, legs out in front, hands on the floor beside your hips.

Step 3: The Crab Walk

This is the bit that feels undignified but works. Walk yourself on your bottom toward the nearest sturdy piece of furniture. Use your hands to help – palm down, push backward, scoot. It’s a crab walk across your living room floor.

If you’re near a sofa, aim for the edge of the seat cushion. If you’re near a sturdy chair, aim for the seat. If you’re near stairs, back yourself up to the bottom step.

Don’t worry about how you look. Getting up beats not getting up.

Step 4: Get to One Knee (or Both)

Now you’re at the furniture. Here’s where you decide based on your knees.

• If you can kneel: Get onto both knees in front of the sofa or chair. Put both hands on the seat. One hand on top of the other, then push up. Walk your hands back toward your body as you rise.
• If you can’t kneel on one side: Bend your good leg and put that foot flat on the floor. Keep the other leg out straight. Put both hands on the furniture seat. Push up through your good leg and your arms. The stiff leg just comes along for the ride.
• If you can’t kneel at all: Stay in your seated position facing the furniture. Put both hands on the seat. Push down hard – you’re going to lift your bottom off the floor and get into a squat. From there, stand up using the furniture for support.

Step 5: Stand and Stabilise

However you got up, don’t walk away immediately. Stand still for a moment. Hold the furniture. Take a few breaths. Make sure you’re steady. The adrenaline from the fall can mask dizziness or injury.

Then carry on with your day.

Practice This Before You Need It

The worst time to learn how to get off the floor is when you’re already on the floor, possibly hurt, possibly shaken.

Practice when you’re calm, on a carpet or soft surface, with someone nearby. Go through each step slowly. See which version works for your knees. Get familiar with the feeling of scooting across the floor on your bottom. It feels silly. That’s the point – better to feel silly on purpose than to panic on the day it matters.

What to Keep Near You

After a fall, your phone is your most important tool. If you’re at home alone – and most falls happen at home – keep your phone in a pocket, or on a lanyard, or in a belt pouch. Not on the kitchen counter. Not in the other room.

If you can’t get up, a phone in your pocket means you can call someone while you’re still on the floor.

The Bigger Picture

The toe lean trains the muscles that stop you falling. This method trains the skill that gets you back up when you fall anyway. Together they break the fall cycle – the one that starts with a wobble and ends with you in hospital.

You don’t need to be strong to do this. You don’t need to be flexible. You just need to know the steps and practice them once, on purpose, so your body remembers when it matters.

Will Harlow’s book Independence for Life covers this and more. His YouTube channel is HT Physio.

*Next: Move Your Body → — once you can get up safely, here’s what comes next.