Today my neighbour told me that his wife had a serious fall recently.
She had tripped over some bags in a pub and this led to her breaking her shoulder. This will likely take a long time to heal and will put a dampener on an upcoming holiday.
Hopefully she has got away lightly but many people do not.
Over 3 million people each year are treated in A and E in the UK as a result of a fall. The total cost to the UK economy is around £4.4 billion.
Almost half of all injury related deaths are due to falls and 60% of injury related hospital admissions.
A number of times, people have told me they couldn’t come to the class as they have been injured in a fall.
It seems to me that learning to fall would be a wise investment of time.
In Aikido we learn to fall in such a way that we land on the parts of the body that can take an impact without being injured badly. We learn to control how we fall and stay relaxed (people tend to naturally tense up which can make it worse).
This has helped me many times, though it is rare in general that I fall over.
I’ve probably fallen over 10,000 times within the class and never had a severe injury.
If you would like to learn more about Aikido you are welcome to come along tonight to give it a try.
The class runs from 7.30pm to 8.30pm at the Palace Of Art, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow.
Keep Extending Ki
Sensei Ronnie Smith
Aikido For Glasgow 