It happens in a flash.

One second you’re walking down a grocery store aisle, your mind on dinner plans. The next, your foot hits a puddle of something slick and unseen—a leaky freezer, a spilled drink, a hazard the store should have fixed—and the world tilts sideways. You feel that gut-wrenching moment of weightlessness before the hard, unforgiving floor rushes up to meet you.

The impact is a dull thud followed by a hot bloom of pain. For a few seconds, the world is just the fluorescent lights overhead and the startled faces of strangers. This isn't just an embarrassing slip. It's the starting pistol for a race you didn't even know you were in. As you lie there, dazed and hurt, another process is already in motion. The property owner is thinking about liability. Their insurance company, miles away in some soulless high-rise, is already running the numbers on how to minimize your claim for injuries from fall.

They’re counting on you to downplay it. They’re praying you’ll chalk it up to a “bad bruise” you can just walk off. They hope you don't realize the ache in your back is a herniated disc, or that the headache you can't shake is a concussion. My job is to make sure their prayers go unanswered.

They Want You to Believe It’s “Just a Sprain”

A fall isn’t a single event—it’s the start of a war inside your body. The impact is just the opening shot.

In the hours and days that follow, a complex battle unfolds as your tissues react to the trauma. An insurance adjuster sees a line item on a report. You have to live inside that battleground. The blunt force from hitting a hard surface creates a cascade of damage that goes far beyond what you can see.

Understanding the common injuries from fall is your first line of defense against an insurance company that will absolutely, positively try to tell you it’s “just a sprain.” Let’s call their bluff.

Fractures, Breaks, and Life-Altering Breaks

Your first instinct in a fall is to throw your hands out to catch yourself. It’s a reflex that might save your head but often sacrifices your wrists, arms, and shoulders. We lawyers even have a term for it: a FOOSH injury—Fall On an Outstretched Hand. It’s responsible for a breathtaking number of fractures.

But bones can break anywhere the impact is severe enough. Here are the usual suspects:

Wrists and Ankles: These intricate joints are bundles of small bones and ligaments—all of them vulnerable to the twisting forces of a fall. A “broken ankle” can mean multiple fractures requiring surgery, plates, and screws.
Hips: A hip fracture is devastating, particularly for older adults. It almost always means major surgery and can steal your independence. A horrifying 95% of hip fractures are caused by falls.
Tailbone (Coccyx): Falling backward can land you squarely on your tailbone. This injury causes excruciating pain when you sit—and can take months of misery to heal.

These injuries aren’t just painful—they derail your life. A broken wrist means you can't type/cook/drive. A broken hip could mean you need long-term care or resources like wheelchairs for mobility.

The Silent Damage to Your Head and Spine

You do not have to lose consciousness to suffer a serious head injury.

Your brain is a soft organ floating in a hard skull. A sudden jolt—like your head whipping back and hitting the floor—can slam it against the bone, causing a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The signs can be subtle, creeping up on you later.

You might just feel “off”—dizzy, foggy, irritable, sensitive to light. These are not minor complaints. They are signs of brain trauma. Ignoring them is a mistake the insurance company is counting on you to make.

Spinal cord injuries are just as insidious. A fall can fracture vertebrae, causing herniated discs that press on nerves and send radiating pain down your arms and legs. In the worst cases, it means paralysis. The danger with these injuries from fall is their hidden nature, which is why immediate medical attention is non-negotiable.

When to Sound the Alarm: Red Flags for Serious Injuries

Injury Type	Key Symptoms to Watch For	When to Go to the ER
Head Injury (TBI)	Loss of consciousness, confusion, severe headache, vomiting, seizure, unequal pupil size.	Immediately. Do not wait for symptoms to worsen.
Spinal Injury	Numbness, tingling, or weakness in limbs; loss of bladder/bowel control; severe neck/back pain.	Immediately. Do not move the person unless they are in danger.
Fractures	Obvious deformity, bone protruding through skin, inability to bear weight, severe pain/swelling.	Immediately, especially for hip fractures or open fractures.
Internal Bleeding	Abdominal pain, large areas of deep purple bruising, dizziness, fainting, clammy skin.	Immediately. Internal bleeding can be life-threatening.

Soft Tissue Damage is Anything But Soft

Insurance adjusters love the term “soft tissue injury.” They use it to imply your pain is minor, temporary, and not worth much. It is a deliberate, cynical tactic to downplay your suffering.

Let’s be clear—there is nothing “soft” about a torn ligament, a ruptured tendon, or deep muscle contusions that cause chronic pain.

Sprains: Violently stretched or torn ligaments. A severe ankle sprain can be more debilitating—and take longer to heal—than a clean fracture.
Strains: Torn muscle fibers or tendons. Think of a back strain so severe it’s impossible to stand up straight.
Deep Bruising: Bleeding and tissue damage deep inside the muscle, causing significant pain and swelling.

The statistics are grim. You can read more about these staggering fall statistics, but know this: falls are a massive public health crisis that insurers are paid to ignore.

The Trick Insurance Companies Don’t Want You to Know

The moment you file a claim, a clock starts ticking—for the insurance company. They have a well-rehearsed, deeply cynical playbook designed for one purpose: to pay you as little as possible. Or nothing at all.

That friendly-sounding adjuster who calls you? The one who sounds so concerned? That person is not your friend. They are a highly trained opponent whose entire job is to dismantle your claim, piece by piece. Their compassion is a tactic. Their questions are traps.

My job is to flip the table over.

Their First Move: Blame You

The first play is a classic—they’ll try to blame you. In Colorado, this is called comparative negligence. The adjuster will fish for any tiny detail they can twist to suggest you were careless.

Were you on your phone? Wearing the "wrong" shoes? In a hurry? They will use your own words against you to argue you are partially—or mostly—responsible.

If they can prove you are 50% or more at fault, they owe you nothing. Zero. Zilch.
If they convince a jury you were 20% at fault, they slash your settlement by that exact amount. A $100,000 claim becomes an $80,000 claim.

This is why you never—ever—give a recorded statement to their insurance company without a lawyer. It’s a fishing expedition, and you’re the bait.

The Calculated Cruelty of Delay, Deny, Defend

Insurance companies operate on a simple principle: money they hold onto earns interest. Money they pay out is gone forever. This creates a powerful incentive to drag their feet.

They call it "investigating." I call it the calculated delay.

They will be slow to return calls. They will lose your paperwork. They will request the same medical records three times. This isn't incompetence—it’s a strategy designed to frustrate you into submission. They want you so desperate for a resolution that you’ll accept a pittance just to make it stop.

The Lowball Offer is a Trap—Pure and Simple

Here it is—the single most predatory tactic in their entire playbook. Within days of your fall, before you even understand the true extent of your injuries from fall, the adjuster will call with an offer. It will sound tempting. Maybe a few thousand dollars.

They will frame it as a gesture of goodwill. It is a trap.

What they’re really doing is trying to buy your entire claim—past, present, and future—for pennies on the dollar. They know a herniated disc might need surgery down the line. They know a concussion can lead to months of cognitive therapy. They are betting you don’t.

Accepting that offer means signing away your rights forever. The lowball offer is a trap. Don't fall for it. This whole cynical game is why we wrote our guide on why insurance companies deny claims.

Here’s How We Build an Unshakeable Case

In a personal injury claim, knowledge is power. But evidence? Evidence is leverage.

After a slip and fall, you can bet the property owner and their insurer have one goal: make the evidence of their negligence vanish. The wet floor gets mopped. The broken step gets patched. You have a very small window to build the foundation of your case before the scene is altered forever.

What you do in the first few hours can make or break your ability to get the compensation you deserve for your injuries from fall.

Your Immediate Action Checklist—No Excuses

Think of yourself as a crime scene investigator. Your phone is your most powerful tool.

Photograph and Video Everything: Take way more photos than you think you need. Get wide shots of the area, then detailed close-ups of the specific hazard—the puddle, the broken tile, the frayed carpet. Film a slow video, narrating what you see. This freezes a moment in time they want to erase.
Report the Incident Officially: Find a manager and report what happened. Insist on filling out an incident report and—this is critical—get a copy for yourself. If they refuse, email them a summary of the incident on the spot. This creates a time-stamped digital record.
Identify Witnesses: Did anyone see you go down? Get their name and phone number. A neutral, third-party witness is incredibly persuasive. It shuts down the insurance company’s attempt to call you a liar.
Preserve Your Shoes: The shoes you were wearing are a key piece of evidence. Don't wear them again. Stick them in a bag and store them somewhere safe. The insurance company will try to argue your “inappropriate footwear” caused the fall.

The Medical Paper Trail Is Everything

Seeking immediate medical care does two things. Most importantly, it protects your health. Legally, it creates the essential link between the fall and your injuries.

Any delay gives the insurance company an opening. They will argue that if you were really hurt, you would have gone to the ER immediately. They'll suggest your injuries happened somewhere else entirely.

Don't give them that ammunition. Go to an urgent care clinic or the ER the same day. Be specific with the doctor. Tell them exactly where and how you fell, and describe every single symptom. This creates a medical record that ties your physical harm directly to their negligence.

Responsible property owners can prevent falls by installing non-slip flooring options. Proving they ignored readily available solutions is a powerful way to establish negligence under the law. You can read our guide on what premises liability law is to understand their duties.

Here’s How We Calculate What They Really Owe You

Compensation isn’t about just getting a check for your ER bill. It’s about making you whole again.

It’s about forcing an acknowledgment that the real cost of your injuries from a fall isn’t on a single receipt—it's woven into every part of your life that was diminished or taken away because someone was negligent. The adjuster wants you to think small. My job is to force them to see the entire picture.

Economic Damages: The Black-and-White Costs

These are the tangible, calculable losses. Think of this as the easy math—every dollar that has left or will leave your pocket because of this fall.

Every Medical Bill: From the ambulance ride to future surgeries, physical therapy, and prescriptions.
All Lost Wages: The hours you missed right after the fall, plus any hit to your ability to earn money in the future—what we call lost earning capacity.
Out-of-Pocket Expenses: Ubers to doctor’s appointments, crutches, braces. It all adds up.

Non-Economic Damages: The Human Costs

This is where the real fight is. These are the costs that don’t come with a price tag—the human toll. Insurance companies hate this part.

This is compensation for:

Pain and Suffering: The physical pain and agony you endure every day.
Emotional Distress: The anxiety, depression, and sleepless nights that follow a traumatic event.
Loss of Enjoyment of Life: The inability to go for a run, play with your kids, or engage in hobbies that once brought you joy.

The adjuster will never offer you a dime for this unless you make them. They will pretend it doesn’t have value. But in the eyes of the law—and any decent human being—it is the most significant loss of all.

Figuring out what your case is truly worth is complex. To dive deeper, you can learn more about slip and fall settlement amounts in our article. We will document every aspect of your loss to demand compensation that reflects the full cost of what you’ve been through.

Here Are the Answers You Need, Right Now

When you’re hurt and bills are piling up, anxiety is a heavy weight. Let's cut through the noise and get straight to the questions that are probably keeping you up at night.

How Long Do I Have to File a Lawsuit in Colorado?

This one is critical. In Colorado, the clock starts ticking the moment you fall. For most slip and fall cases, you have a two-year statute of limitations to file a lawsuit. Miss that deadline, and your case is gone forever.

Two years sounds like a long time. It isn’t. Evidence disappears, witnesses move, and memories fade. The insurance company knows this and will happily slow-walk your claim, hoping you run out of time. Don't let them.

What if I Was Partially at Fault?

The insurance adjuster will do everything they can to pin the blame on you. It’s a deliberate strategy.

Colorado uses a modified comparative fault rule. This means you can still recover damages as long as you are found to be less than 50% at fault. But your final compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you're 10% responsible, your award shrinks by 10%. This is why you never give a recorded statement to the other side.

What if My Fall Happened on Public Property?

Suing a government entity—a city, county, or state—is a completely different beast with stricter rules and shorter deadlines.

Under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (CGIA), you often have as little as 182 days to file a formal notice of claim. Miss it, and you lose your right to sue. Period. This is not a DIY project.

Do I Really Need a Lawyer?

Technically, no. You can also perform your own dental surgery. I wouldn't recommend that, either.

The insurance adjuster's job is to protect their company’s bottom line by paying you as little as possible. They have teams of lawyers and a playbook they’ve run thousands of times. Going against them alone is like stepping into the ring with a heavyweight champion. A lawyer levels that field.

The information contained in this blog post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading or using the information on this website. You should consult with a licensed attorney for advice regarding your individual situation.

I handle the insurance company. You handle getting better. Let’s talk about what happened. Learn more at https://conduit.law.

Injuries from Fall: What Insurance Won't Tell You