Hi,
Very sorry to read your mother's fall. Falls in the elderly are, sadly, very common. They add to a lot to the day to day problems of these patients and are equally distressing to family members. Another complicating feature is that the elderly are very prone to side effects of many medications, especially those that pertain to pain relief. Having that said, there are a number of things that can be tried:
1.
Paracetamol 1gram four times daily may be required on a regular basis, for a while.
2. A short course of pain killers like
ibuprofen and
diclofenac can be given. They slightly increase bleeding risk with clot medications but such a slight risk, in my opinion, can be justified if it can give patients some comfort.
3. A short course of pain medications such as
tramadol and opiates can also be considered. They cause a bit of
drowsiness and confusion and can increase risks of more falls episodes. They can used in smaller doses, for shorter periods and a bit of supervision to get good results.
4. The last point is to make sure that the fall hasn't caused any
fractures in the legs or foot bones. This could also explain why the pain is poor to respond to these measures.
Since ascertaining that there is no physical
injury requires a clinical examination and imaging such as x-rays, it might be appropriate to have a formal evaluation from a physician. It would be a great comfort to find out that there are no fractures. This will be particularly be important if she is feeling worse every day.
I hope this helps. Feel free to ask me more questions in relation to this.