How long does it take to recover from a fall?

Quick summary

Bruising and soreness settle over two to three weeks. A broken wrist does most of its healing between six and twelve weeks. A broken hip takes around six months, and only 40 to 60 per cent of people get back to how they moved before. Getting the confidence back takes longer than any of it, and nobody warns you about that part.

How long does the bruising and soreness last?

Usually two to three weeks, and it typically gets worse before it gets better.

Adrenaline masks pain on the day. Bruising then darkens and spreads over the following 24 to 48 hours as swelling develops, which is why day two often feels worse than the fall itself.

If there was a bump to the head, the NHS says symptoms can persist for up to two weeks, and anything still there after that should go to a GP (NHS, Head injury and concussion). What should not be waited out is a headache that keeps building, repeated vomiting, drowsiness, new confusion or new weakness. Those need 999.

How long does a broken wrist take to heal?

Most of the healing happens between six and twelve weeks. Aches and discomfort beyond that are normal, particularly when trying something you have not done for a while, and the area can stay more sensitive for several months (NHS inform, Wrist fracture).

A wrist fracture is the classic fall injury, because the hand goes out to break the fall. It is also the injury families most often underestimate, since a plaster cast looks minor next to a hip.

Think about what one working hand means in practice. No tin openers, no jars, no doing up buttons, no getting out of a bath, no carrying a full kettle. Six weeks of that is when we see short term support most often needed. 

How long does it take to recover from a broken hip?

Longer, and more honestly than most sources put it.

Over 70,000 people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland break a hip each year (National Hip Fracture Database, 2025 report on 2024). Research following people over the year after a hip fracture found that objective recovery of physical function was largely complete within the first six months, while how people rated their own functioning kept improving up to around nine months.

The harder figure is this one. Of the people who survive a hip fracture, only 40 to 60 per cent recover their previous level of mobility or their ability to manage everyday tasks such as shopping and housework (Orthogeriatrics, Rehabilitation Following Hip Fracture). Around 20 per cent of people who have a fall related hip fracture need long term care within the first year.

That is not a reason to give up on rehabilitation. It is a reason to take it seriously from week one, and to be realistic about what home will need to look like.

Why do I feel worse two days later?

Because the adrenaline has gone and the inflammation has arrived. Pain, stiffness, bruising and swelling all typically peak in the 24 to 48 hours after a fall rather than at the moment of impact.

The thing to watch is the direction of travel. Soreness that is easing by day four is doing what it should. Hip, groin or thigh pain that keeps worsening, or a leg that will not take weight, needs assessment that day, because an incomplete hip fracture can be missed at first and announce itself later.

Why am I still frightened months later?

Because fear of falling is a recognised consequence of falling, not a personal failing, and it is common enough to have its own research literature.

Reported prevalence varies widely, from around 20 per cent to over 80 per cent depending on the population studied, and it is consistently higher in people who have already fallen (Scheffer and colleagues, Age and Ageing, 2008). It is associated with reduced activity, avoidance of things people used to do, low mood, less social contact and lower quality of life.

There is a loop in that. Fear leads to doing less, doing less leads to weaker legs, and weaker legs make another fall more likely. The fear turns out to be partly right, which is what makes it so hard to argue someone out of.

NICE treats this as something to be treated rather than tolerated. Its 2025 guidance recommends considering cognitive behavioural interventions for people whose concerns about falling are not helped by strength and balance exercises (NICE NG249). Ask the GP about it by name if six weeks of exercise has not shifted it.

What actually speeds recovery up?

Four things, in roughly this order.

• Moving early and often. The national hip fracture audit is currently pressing hospitals to provide physiotherapy at weekends as well as weekdays, which tells you how much the profession thinks the volume of rehabilitation matters.
• Strength and balance exercise, progressively. This reduces the rate of further falls by around 23 per cent (Cochrane, 2019), and it is the single thing most likely to get someone back out of the house.
• Bone protection. A fragility fracture is a reason to ask about osteoporosis treatment. The 2025 hip fracture report was pushing for at least half of patients to be on bone strengthening medication four months after a hip fracture, which implies plenty currently are not.
• Eating properly. Appetite drops after an injury at exactly the point protein is needed most, and weight loss after a fall is a quiet predictor of a poor recovery.

Do not pay for care on the day of discharge

After a hospital stay, reablement and intermediate care are normally free for up to six weeks, arranged through the NHS or the council. It is short, intensive support designed to get someone doing things for themselves again, which is a different thing from ongoing home care. Plenty of families start paying a private provider from the day of discharge without ever being told it exists.

Ask the ward directly whether reablement or intermediate care has been offered, and if it has not, ask why not. Then choose a provider properly at the end of it, with time to compare, rather than at four o’clock on a discharge afternoon.

The numbers depend on where your mum lives, not where you live. Cheshire East Council adult social care on 0300 123 5010. Call Derbyshire on 01629 533190 for Buxton and Whaley Bridge. Staffordshire Cares on 0300 111 8010 for Leek, Biddulph and Kidsgrove.

Frequently asked questions

How long before she can be left on her own again?

It depends on the injury and on what the house demands of her. A useful test is not whether she can walk across a room, but whether she can get to the toilet at night, get out of the bath, and get up off the floor if she goes down again. 

Is it normal to feel low after a fall?

Yes. Low mood, reduced social contact and loss of confidence are all documented consequences of falling. If it lasts more than a few weeks or someone has stopped going out altogether, that is worth raising with the GP as its own problem.

Will she need care forever?

Often not. Many care packages after a fall run for six to twelve weeks and then stop, or reduce to a couple of visits a week. Any provider who cannot talk to you about how care reduces as well as how it starts is worth being careful with.

How soon can she walk after a hip operation?

Hospitals aim to get people up and weight bearing very soon after surgery, and the national audit measures whether operations allow that. Ask the ward what her weight bearing status is and write it down, because everything at home depends on it.

Should she be doing exercises at home?

Only the ones a physiotherapist has given her, and those ones properly. NICE is specific that falls prevention exercise should be tailored, progressive and reviewed, rather than a leaflet handed over on discharge.

About Visiting Angels Cheshire East

Visiting Angels Cheshire East provides care at home across Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Congleton, Knutsford and the villages of East Cheshire, along with Buxton, Whaley Bridge and the Staffordshire border towns.

• You choose your caregiver. You meet them before care starts, and if it is not right you say so and we send someone else.
• No visit is ever shorter than an hour. There is no such thing as a fifteen minute call here.
• Short term packages stay short term. Care after a fall should reduce as someone recovers, and we will tell you when it can.
• Carers trained in stroke recovery, Parkinson’s, dementia and complex care.
• Live-in care available, up to full time, for the first weeks home if that is what is needed.

Val had support at home after her hip replacement:

“Super service, very pleasant and caring staff that came to see me when I had my hip replacement done. Will miss our tea and chat now.”

Valerie Hewitt, Google review

Not sure what you need yet? Start with a free assessment

Our free home care assessment is a visit at a time that suits you, with no obligation afterwards. In it we will:

• Work out what is actually difficult, and which times of day, which is usually what a visit should be built around.
• Talk through a realistic package, what it would cost, and how it should reduce as they recover.
• Look at the money with you, and point you towards the funding, benefits and grants you may be entitled to, including the ones most families are never told about.
• Tell you honestly if you do not need us yet, or if reablement should come first.

If a discharge date has landed and you are trying to work out what happens next, call us on 01625 720157. You can also WhatsApp us or send an enquiry, and you can see what our services cover.

Authored by Dr Haroon Ahmad, Managing Director, Visiting Angels Cheshire East.

Published 6 September 2026. Last updated 6 September 2026.

This article is general information, not medical advice, and no substitute for a professional who knows the person. The healing times given are typical ranges from published sources; individual recovery varies with age, health, injury and treatment, so nothing here is a prediction about any particular person, and the advice of the treating team comes first, especially on weight bearing and exercise. The author is a director of the company and is not acting in a clinical capacity, and Visiting Angels Cheshire East provides personal care at home rather than medical or nursing care. Speak to a GP, a physiotherapist or NHS 111 about your own situation, and call 999 in an emergency. Information correct at the date of publication. To the fullest extent permitted by law, GB Care at Home Ltd accepts no liability for any loss or injury arising from reliance on it.