ABSTRACT
An 82-year-old woman had noticed increasing difficulty over recent months when trying to go up stairs. She was awaiting a hip replacement and suffered from hip pain, which she managed with paracetamol and codeine. One evening she tripped and fell down eight stairs, sustaining a large laceration to the scalp which bled profusely. She called her daughter who phoned for an ambulance. On arrival at hospital she was alert and orientated and appeared well. A systems examination was unremarkable.
