When I was around 12, I took Judo for about a year. The first thing they teach you is how to fall, absorbing the energy and distributing it along your forearms (and if/when possible, legs and or side). They made us practice that until it became instinctive, because in a sport like that, one is subject to falling very hard, very fast.

Last year I slipped on some ice outside a quilt shop, and if I'd been watching someone else, I couldn't have stopped myself from laughing because it was the sterotypical slip on a banana peel kind of pratfall with my feet flying up higher than the rest of me before crashing to the ground.

Fortunately, that decades old instinct/training kicked in, and I broke my fall with my forearms and side.

Moral: Martial arts aside, IMO it's not a bad idea for everyone to learn how to fall/break their fall. I often wonder how many broken bones or trips to the ER could be saved by people learning that simple skill.

GENTLE stretching exercises to improve bloodflow to the traumatized areas.

Doc