The safest way to help a fallen elderly person up is not to lift them yourself. Instead, guide them through a process where they use sturdy furniture to push themselves up gradually, with you providing stability and support rather than doing the heavy lifting. Trying to haul someone off the floor by their arms or torso risks injuring both of you. Here’s exactly how to handle this situation, from the first moment you find them on the ground to the hours afterward.
Check for Injuries Before Anything Else
Before you even think about getting someone off the floor, take a moment to assess. Ask them where it hurts. Look for obvious signs of injury: a limb at an odd angle, swelling, bleeding, or severe pain when they try to move. If they hit their head, lost consciousness even briefly, can’t move a limb, or have intense pain in their hip or back, call 911 and keep them still. Moving someone with a spinal injury or a broken hip can make things dramatically worse.
One critical detail many people don’t know: if the person takes blood thinners, a head strike is a medical emergency even if they feel fine. Blood thinners significantly increase the risk of bleeding inside the skull, and symptoms can be delayed by hours. UK guidelines recommend a CT scan within eight hours for anyone on anticoagulants who hits their head during a fall. If your loved one takes blood thinners and struck their head, get medical attention regardless of how they look or feel in the moment.
Why Speed Matters
An older person lying on the floor for an extended period faces real medical risks beyond the fall itself. Prolonged time on a hard surface can cause muscle breakdown (a condition where damaged muscle tissue releases harmful proteins into the bloodstream), pressure injuries to the skin, dehydration, and hypothermia. Infections and sepsis have also been documented in cases where someone remained on the floor for hours. Even 30 to 60 minutes on a cold, hard floor can lower body temperature in a frail person. If you can safely help them up, do so promptly. If you can’t, call for help and keep them warm with a blanket while you wait.
The Two-Chair Method
This is the most widely recommended technique, and it works because the fallen person does most of the work themselves, using furniture for leverage. You’ll need two sturdy chairs that won’t slide on the floor. Kitchen chairs or dining chairs work well. Avoid anything with wheels or that’s lightweight enough to tip.
Start by helping the person roll onto their side, then onto their hands and knees. Let them set the pace. Place one sturdy chair directly in front of them so they can grip the seat. Have them put their hands on the chair seat and walk their hands up until their upper body is supported. Next, ask them to bring their stronger foot forward and plant it flat on the floor, moving into a half-kneeling position (one knee down, one foot forward). Place the second chair close to their thigh on the side of the raised knee. From this position, encourage them to push through their hands on the first chair and lift their bottom onto the second chair behind them.
The entire process should be slow and controlled. Talk them through each step. Your role is to steady the chairs, offer a hand for balance, and be ready to guide them if they wobble. You are not pulling them up.
Protecting Your Own Body
If you do need to provide physical support during this process, how you position yourself matters. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends these principles for anyone helping lift or support another person:
- Feet shoulder-width apart with one foot slightly ahead of the other for a stable base.
- Bend at your hips and knees, not your back. Your knees should never extend past your toes.
- Keep them close to you. The further you reach, the more strain hits your lower back.
- Tighten your core muscles before any exertion, and let your legs do the work.
- Keep your head, neck, and spine aligned in a straight line throughout.
- Use your arms only for support, not for lifting force.
Place one foot between the person’s feet and one outside for balance if you’re standing close. Never twist your torso while bearing weight. If the person is too heavy or too injured for the chair method, do not attempt to deadlift them off the floor. That is how caregivers herniate discs.
When They Can’t Help Themselves Up
If the person can’t bear weight, can’t get to their hands and knees, or is too confused to follow instructions, you need a different approach. For someone who falls regularly, an inflatable lifting cushion is worth owning. These devices slide under the person while they’re still on the floor, then inflate in stages, gradually raising them from lying flat to a seated position and then to standing. They require no heavy lifting from the caregiver and typically support up to 300 pounds. The person stays safely cradled in the cushion throughout, with handles for you to provide stability.
If you don’t have equipment and the person can’t assist, call for help. That might mean a neighbor, another family member, or emergency services. Two people can sometimes manage what one cannot, with one supporting the upper body and the other stabilizing the hips, but only if the person can partially participate. For someone who is dead weight, unable to move, or in significant pain, paramedics have the training and equipment to move them safely.
What to Watch for in the Next 48 Hours
Getting someone off the floor is only half the job. Falls in older adults cause 88% of hip fracture-related emergency visits, and not every injury announces itself immediately. Some fractures produce only mild discomfort at first, especially in people with osteoporosis. Internal bleeding, particularly in the head, can take hours to produce symptoms.
For the next two days, watch for new or worsening confusion, drowsiness that seems unusual, difficulty walking or a change in their gait, increasing pain anywhere (especially the hip, wrist, or head), nausea or vomiting, bruising that spreads or darkens significantly, and any weakness on one side of the body. A headache that gets worse rather than better after a head strike deserves prompt medical attention.
Keep in mind that some older adults won’t report pain because they don’t want to be a burden. Watch how they move. If they’re favoring one side, refusing to put weight on a leg, or seem more confused than usual, those are signs something may have been missed. A next-day check-in with their doctor is reasonable after any fall, even one that seemed minor at the time.
Preparing Before the Next Fall
If your loved one has fallen once, the odds of it happening again are high. A few practical steps can make the next time less dangerous. Keep a phone accessible from the floor level, whether that’s a cell phone in a pocket or a medical alert device worn around the neck. Clear pathways of rugs, cords, and clutter. Install grab bars in the bathroom and near the bed.
Practice the two-chair method while things are calm. If your loved one knows the steps and has rehearsed them, they may be able to get themselves up independently after a minor fall, which matters enormously if they live alone. For frequent fallers, an inflatable lift cushion stored in an accessible spot can turn a potentially dangerous situation into a manageable one in minutes.