Most of the 'mats' carried in box-retail stores probably aren't gonna be thick enough to actually protect US if we fall-down-and-go-BOOM? [Known to EMT's those rescue guys as FDAGB].....Some mats are made to be in water [live in it and not get well moldy/funky] and others aren't....Alternatives for us are either going around as if we are skateboarding [with head-gear, elbow and knee pads] or going around in 'bubble-wrap' Don't know about you, but either alternative has less than desirable consequences to their protections. I have not yet discovered anything other than heaps of grab bars for bathing safety...IF I find something Daniella, YOU will definitely be the first or second to know rite away.... I am looking.

Mrs D? Were the mats you have over concrete or on a wood surface? I think that would have a lot to do about 'resiliency' and or protection if one actually falls on one, don't you think?
I do know that the barn/stall mats are made to be tough and outside essentially. They are also build to wear well with 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of constant animal use...wear and tear..and they do hold up. The issue is cost/vs protection and how much protection a person needs in what location. IF I find a sale on these outdoor mats, I'm gonna get one at my nemesis point...just outside one door where I have to STEP up. I often find my feet failing at the UP or down critical IN MOTION aspect... Would be nice to have some padding there for sure. - j

I have in my car in the back of the van. A friend of mine put hers
in her basement to cut the hard and cold feelings from the cement floor (they have a sofa and other furniture there as a spare room). The colored mat is made from the same material as door mats. It was quite large, so I gave 1/2 to my son for his car because he transports musical instruments to his band practice.
They cushion the ride.

The exercise mat is in the kitchen. It gets wet.

I don't think these mats are thick enough to cushion a real fall. They might
prevent a road rash injury, but I don't think a tendon pull, or bone break can be prevented with a mat. After all people break ribs and wrists just bowling,
or lifting something heavy, if osteoporosis is there.

My mats reduce strain, very well, however on a daily basis.

Thanks all... Since Sam's is right around the corner, I will start out there. I need to find one that doesn't have that strong rubbery smell...

I am much better today. Still very sore, but I can breathe, so am OK. I have to see my doc Monday, so he will hear about it then...

I don't know why people fall like they do. I just don't recall being so clumsy as a kid. I broke my arm when I was about 4, but that was because I fell out of a chair...

MrsD: Did you get a chance to think about the Calcium, Vitamin D, Magnesium ratio?

Calcium Citrate & D: 800 IU D, 1260 mg Calcium (4 gag size pills)
Vitamin: 400 IU D, 200 mg Calcium
Biotin: (has calcium in it) 73 mg Calcium (dr. said for fingernails-doesn't work)
SloMag: 212 mg Calcium, 128 mg Magnesium (2 pills)

Many thanks,
Cathie

I understand I was just thinking not so much for protection of breaking something but to make it so one doesn't slip so easy. Like those bath mats have traction. Cathie have you been tested for osteoporosis? Maybe your bones are so weak that you fall easily. My mom takes fosomax and thinks it has helped her. My endo just wants me to take calcium with vitamin d and I take seperate magnesium and also glucosamine msn.

you are not getting twitching/cramping..then that ratio is working for you.

I get muscle spasms now, if I forget my calcium. Part of that reason is that
I use a calcium channel blocker for blood pressure...although a low dose.

Take the calcium in divided doses, since there is an upper limit to absorption.
At least twice a day. (not all at once).

On the mats....cow mats are a bout a half inch think and weigh a ton...you need two full grown men (Lester and Clay) to load them in your Ford F150 pick up truck....you buy them at local farm supply stores. Once that thing is down, it is not going anywhere....it is about a 4 x 6 size, comes in a variety of colors...BLACK. It does have a half inch lip you can trip on. At the farm store it is a COW MAT.

You can also buy mats at fitness stores, but only get commercial mats similar to cow mats....there they cost twice as much, roughly 80 bucks, and you can get BLACK with red, blue or other little flecks of color.....Don't call it a cow mat there, they might take it personally....Likewise, you need 2 men (Bjorn and Lars) to carry them out to your SUV or similarly large vehicle.

Don't order them online as the shipping is by weight, and then again, if you don't have a Lester and Clay or a Bjorn and Lars at home, getting the mat where you want it might be difficult.

Don't buy any flimsy mats or you will slip or trip on them....the mats I refer to are like flooring essentially. They break your fall, but you can't expect to escape serious injury no matter what....it beats brick, concrete or ice. Did you know ice is 7 times harder than concrete? I wish some one had told me that before I decided to relearn how to skate a few years ago. (Don't worry, skates are gone, but I did get pretty good at skating...for a while anyway.) And yes, anything that contacted the ice other than the blades, still hurts.

Thanks... Maybe I need to learn how to fall correctly. Falling flat down frontwards is not exactly a good way to break a fall... When I was young and fell, I never gave that a second thought...

I fell a couple of times and rolled as I fell, but falling on the grass is not as hard, so it wasn't that painful. When I fell off of my shoe and fractured ribs, it was about 10:00 pm; it was on the sidewalk, which really hurt... I laid out there in the dark for a while thinking my husband or someone would come along, but then the football game was on, and you know how that goes... It hurt alright, but nothing like it did when I tried to get up out of a chair later on.

I guess a person could just die lying there on the sidewalk, unless it was at the end of the fourth quarter...

Cathie

Thanks MrsD...