REFERENCE · RECOVERY TECHNIQUE
Agreeing What to Do After a Fall
When this may help: When a sudden fall happens, a short plan helps you and others check safety, recognize injury and get the right help. [Clinical safety guidance; injury response is supportive care]
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Why a plan helps
A sudden fall can leave you startled, sore and unsure what to do next. An injury-response plan is a brief agreement about help after the event. It does not need you to notice a warning first, and it does not assume that a familiar functional attack cannot cause an injury. [1][2][3]
The first question is whether you are safe and injured, not whether you can prove that the episode was functional. A quick return of awareness or movement is not an injury check.
Write down the decisions in advance
Ask your clinician to help you make a short plan that includes:
- how to call for help, including a phone or alarm you can reach;
- which changes require emergency assessment;
- who can check in or stay with you when needed;
- the assessed way to get up after an uninjured event; and
- who should hear about repeated falls or a changed pattern.
Keep it somewhere useful and share it with the people you choose. A note on a phone may be easier than explaining everything while you are on the floor. The plan should fit the assistance that is actually available. [3][4]
After a fall
Pause before trying to rise. Notice pain, bleeding, a possible head strike, a limb you cannot use normally or new inability to bear weight. If serious injury is possible, avoid unnecessary movement and get help. If you cannot get up safely, call for assistance rather than repeatedly attempting it or accepting an improvised lift. Keep warm while waiting, as far as you can without risking further injury. [3]
Get emergency help for unresponsiveness, abnormal breathing, suspected serious head, neck, back or hip injury, severe bleeding, or new neurological symptoms. After a head strike, inability to stay awake, a seizure or new weakness/speech difficulty are emergency signs. Vomiting, dizziness, blood-thinning medication or other concerning symptoms need urgent medical advice. Give first aid within your training and follow local emergency guidance and dispatcher instructions. [3][5][6]
If the event was familiar, you are uninjured and the usual movement is available, follow the agreed floor-recovery plan. Do not use an attempt to stand as the way to decide whether an injury exists.
Make the next review easier
When you have recovered enough, a brief factual note can help: where it happened, whether your head hit anything, injury, awareness and how recovery differed from usual. Record what you know; “I do not remember” is useful information too. You do not need a detailed account of every sensation. Repeated injuries or uncertainty about the pattern are reasons to review the plan. [1][3]
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For Family, Friends, and Other Supporters
Stay with the person when needed, protect privacy and explain what you are doing. Move nearby hazards if safe. Do not haul them upright, pull on an arm or assume that ignoring the event is treatment.
If emergency signs are present, seek help. Otherwise follow the person’s agreed plan and your training. A short observation such as “you hit your forehead on the table” is more useful than questioning them repeatedly about why they fell.
For the Person With FND
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For Clinicians and the Care Team
Specify emergency thresholds, injury assessment, manual-handling limits, access to help and follow-up. Consider head injury, fracture risk, anticoagulant use and whether floor recovery is feasible. Typical drop-attack phenomenology does not rule out serious injury. [3][6]
Document any definite loss of consciousness or altered recovery as potentially new diagnostic information. Keep the injury response separate from the explanatory formulation of FND. This is a care plan, not an intervention proven to reduce attack frequency. [1][7]
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Research and Sources
Drop-attack sources describe clinical patterns and practical approaches. General falls and head-injury guidance supplies the safety boundaries. This page does not repeat categorical reassurance that serious injury cannot happen; each fall needs an appropriate response. [1][2][3][6]
Evidence reviewed: September 24, 2026. Examples are educational illustrations, not patient quotations or tested protocols.
| Citation | Full citation and stable record | Support and limits | Figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hoeritzauer I, Carson AJ, Stone J. “Cryptogenic drop attacks” revisited: evidence of overlap with functional neurological disorder. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. 2018;89(7):769–776. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2017-317396 FND-CIT-0059 | Retrospective drop-attack cohort; clinical overlap and naturalistic outcomes cannot establish treatment efficacy or diagnose every unexplained fall. | — |
| 2 | Stone J. Functional drop attacks. Neurosymptoms.org. Accessed September 24, 2026. https://neurosymptoms.org/en/symptoms/fnd-symptoms/functional-drop-attacks/ FND-CIT-0061 | Specialist education and practical ideas; not controlled treatment evidence. Typical descriptions must not be used to rule out serious injury. | — |
| 3 | NHS. Falls. Reviewed March 6, 2025; accessed September 24, 2026. Source. FND-CIT-0216 | General falls safety and care guidance; not an FND trial. Transfer and activity advice needs adaptation to the person and any injury. | — |
| 4 | Nicholson C, Edwards MJ, Carson AJ, et al. Occupational therapy consensus recommendations for functional neurological disorder. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. 2020;91(10):1037–1045. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2019-322281 FND-CIT-0011 | FND occupational therapy consensus: activity and access planning; not direct evidence that equipment or an individual adaptation prevents drop attacks. | — |
| 5 | NHS. Symptoms of a stroke. Reviewed September 12, 2024; accessed September 17, 2026. Source. FND-CIT-0108 | Stroke emergency guidance; new neurological symptoms require assessment despite an FND diagnosis. | — |
| 6 | NHS. Head injury and concussion. Reviewed May 29, 2025; accessed September 24, 2026. Source. FND-CIT-0217 | General head-injury assessment and safety guidance; applies regardless of the cause of the fall. | — |
| 7 | Bennett K, Diamond C, Hoeritzauer I, Gardiner P, McWhirter L, Carson A, Stone J. A practical review of functional neurological disorder (FND) for the general physician. Clinical Medicine. 2021;21(1):28–36. https://doi.org/10.7861/clinmed.2020-0987 FND-CIT-0001 | Practical clinical review: positive diagnosis and coexisting conditions, not a drop-attack treatment trial. | — |
For the Person With FND
For Family, Friends, and Other Supporters
For Clinicians and the Care Team
Research and Sources
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