Remember the “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” commercials? I feel like we used to say that line all the time. Maybe people still do and I’m just not hearing it as much.
I have actually witnessed what it looks like when someone is on the floor and genuinely cannot get themselves back up.
It isn’t funny. It’s terrifying.
I know this firsthand. I have had herniated discs severe enough that I had to be lifted onto a stretcher because I physically could not get myself off the floor. There is something incredibly humbling about suddenly losing the ability to do something your body once did without a second thought. One minute the floor is just the floor. The next minute it feels about 47 miles from standing.
For some people, that loss happens slowly. They stop getting down on the ground to garden. They stop sitting on the floor to play with the grandkids. They start avoiding low chairs. Eventually they cannot remember the last time they actually got all the way down to the ground.
For others, it happens while they are still “young and spry.” An accident happens. An injury occurs. Surgery leaves them with hardware holding parts together that previously did a perfectly fine job on their own. Suddenly gravity and the floor are enemy number one.
And if we are being completely truthful, when I ask someone why they aren’t getting down on the ground anymore, it usually isn’t because nothing interesting is happening down there. It’s because the idea of getting back up is terrifying.
“What if I can’t?”
“What if I hurt myself trying?”
“I don’t want to embarrass myself.”
“I’m ashamed I’ve become this weak.”
I have heard all of those and many more.
But I can tell you this with certainty. If you have lost the ability to get yourself off the ground, you have lost a massive portion of your independence, and I personally, for you, hate that. I mean really, really hate that.
Researchers actually study this ability. The Sitting Rising Test measures how well someone can get down to the floor and back up while using as little assistance as possible. It sounds ridiculously simple, but think about everything your body needs to accomplish it. Strength. Power. Balance. Flexibility. Coordination. A 2025 study of more than 4,200 adults between 46 and 75 found that poorer performance on this test was strongly associated with higher natural and cardiovascular mortality over roughly 12 years of follow up. That does NOT mean struggling to get off the floor is going to kill you. It means this seemingly simple task can tell us quite a bit about overall physical function.
So what if you cannot do it right now?
We start where you are.
Sit down in a sturdy chair and stand back up. Repeat. Try countertop push ups. Walk. March in place while holding onto something stable if you need to. Practice standing tall and lifting one foot at a time. Carry things around your house. Heck, grab that picker-upper tool you use because bending down is difficult and start doing some bicep curls or shoulder presses with it. Is this the training protocol I learned in graduate school? Absolutely not. Do I care? Also no. We are starting.
After a few weeks or months of getting stronger, maybe the goal becomes getting one knee safely toward the ground while holding onto something sturdy. Then we progress from there.
I could use the entire word count of this article explaining step by step how to get off the floor, but I won’t bore you to tears. I will, however, encourage you to practice this while someone else is home who can help you. Let me say that again. Someone who can HELP you.
If your spouse or bestie also hasn’t been able to get off the floor in this decade, this is not your helper. This is your workout partner. The person scrolling on their phone and occasionally glancing in your direction is also not your helper. You need someone capable of assisting you, who understands what you are trying to do and who is willing to call for additional help if things don’t go as planned.
Now, for those of you reading this who can practically levitate off the ground right now, first, do not take that ability for granted. Ever. Second, look around your life. Is there someone you love who has quietly stopped doing things because they are afraid they won’t be able to get back up?
We talk about “losing independence” like it only means eventually being moved into a home. It doesn’t. Even in a home, independence means getting yourself off the toilet. Standing from a chair. Walking across the room to greet your grandchild when they visit. Independence isn’t simply where you live. It is what you are still able to do for yourself once you are there.
And losing those abilities can affect far more than muscles. Physical activity supports brain health, thinking, memory and emotional well being, while helping older adults maintain independent living. I have watched the opposite side of this equation happen hundreds of times. Someone starts exercising. They get stronger. They begin doing more for themselves. Their confidence changes. Their engagement changes. Sometimes they seem like an entirely different person.
The brain thrives with exercise, but so does the human spirit when we realize we are capable of doing something we thought we had lost.
So maybe one of the most important exercises you ever train for isn’t a squat with a barbell, a perfect pushup or whatever exercise social media has decided we all need to be doing this week.
Maybe it’s simply knowing that when life puts you on the floor, you can get yourself back up.
