Key Numbers on Multiple Sclerosis Falls, With a Fall Entry Table

Updated 10 October 2026

Falls are one of the topics people with Multiple Sclerosis are often asked about at a visit, and the answer is easier to give when each fall has a date and a short description. Memory compresses several falls into one general impression, which loses the detail a neurology team can use.

This guide gathers the figures that medical sources report about falls and Multiple Sclerosis, then builds a key numbers table, a fall entry table, five steps for what to note and when to call, a short section on gait and a way to use the entries at the neurology visit. It organizes information for a conversation, and your clinicians guide the decisions.

How often people with Multiple Sclerosis fall, according to sources

Two sources give figures for how common falls are, and they point the same way. The Cleveland Clinic writes that published studies based on recall or prospective tracking show a large number of individuals with Multiple Sclerosis, 50% to 70%, experience at least one fall over a 6-month period, and 30 to 50% of those who fall experience recurrent falls.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, through its Multiple Sclerosis Centers of Excellence, states that more than 50 percent of people with Multiple Sclerosis fall at least once in a six-month period, and about 30 percent fall two or more times. The two statements describe nearly the same group over the same window, which is part of why the figures can be treated as a consistent picture.

Two other sources explain why. The Social Security Administration says the most common cause of impairment in Multiple Sclerosis is some form of disturbance of gait. MedlinePlus adds that symptoms vary because the location and severity of each attack can be different, which helps explain why two people with the same diagnosis can have very different walking and balance.

These are group figures, and they describe how often falls happen in studied populations, not how often one person will fall. They also come from studies that used different methods: some rely on recall, and others follow people forward in time, so the exact percentages differ a little from source to source. What they show is that a question about falls at a visit is routine. Your own record of falls and near-falls turns that routine question into a specific answer.

The record fits Multiple Sclerosis Journey (by Health Journey Labs): the Daily check-in records fatigue, mobility or sensation, fog and heat or environment context, and the Flare Tracker flags a day clearly worse than a usual week with onset, intensity and a short note.

Key numbers on Multiple Sclerosis falls: each figure, its group, and its source

A table keeps figures tied to the groups and sources behind them, which helps when you repeat a number at a visit.

Fall figures, by group and source

Multiple Sclerosis Journey reviewed published fall figures and shows who each describes.

Notice what the table leaves open: it gives no figure for any one person, and the sources describe published studies in general. If you quote a figure at a visit, say which group it describes and who published it. A clinician can then relate it to your own history.

Add a sixth row with your own count of falls over the last six months, once you have the entries. That row makes the table personal and is the number a neurology team will find most useful. A person with no falls can write zero, and that is also a result: it shows the team that the question was asked and answered with data instead of impressions.

With Multiple Sclerosis Journey, the Daily Journal takes free text and voice entry for what the day limited, and the calendar view colors weeks by intensity, so falls can be counted from the same history.

A Multiple Sclerosis fall entry table, by Multiple Sclerosis Journey: what to write after each fall

A fall entry can be brief and still hold the details that fade quickly. Write it the same day, while the circumstances are clear.

Fall entry table for each fall, by Multiple Sclerosis Journey

A near-fall deserves a row too, since it shows the same pattern without an injury. Mark the row "near-fall" and fill the same columns.

Over a few weeks the rows begin to cluster by time, place or how tired you felt. Those clusters are what a clinician reads, and they come from the entries, not from the figures in the earlier table. Keep the wording plain and brief, and leave out guesses about the cause. If a fall happens on a day when you were in a hurry, in poor light or on an unfamiliar surface, write that fact as a fact, since the circumstances are what a clinician can use. Entries written within a day or two are usually more accurate than ones reconstructed at the end of the week.

In Multiple Sclerosis Journey, the Daily check-in carries the fatigue and heat entries you can read beside each fall, and My Assessments hold structured check-ins beyond daily scores, so context for the rows is already logged.

Five steps after a Multiple Sclerosis fall: what to note and when to call

Five steps give a fall a simple routine, so details are captured even on a tired day.

What to do after a fall

Multiple Sclerosis Journey puts checking yourself first.

1. Check how you are first, and call your local emergency number if you are badly hurt, hit your head or feel in danger.
2. Wait until you are settled before writing, and write the date and where it happened.
3. Add what you were doing, how tired you felt and anything that stood out.
4. Note any injury in plain words and who was with you.
5. Mention the fall to your clinic if it was new, if the pattern is changing or if you are worried.

Step five is the one people skip, because a fall without injury can feel minor. A clinician often wants to hear about new or increasing falls even when nothing was hurt, since the pattern matters to the neurology team. Writing the step in your routine turns a vague "I should mention that" into a decision made in advance. The guide to coping with Multiple Sclerosis fatigue covers the tired days that often come before a fall, and the guide to starting symptom tracking with Multiple Sclerosis covers the daily entries. From Multiple Sclerosis Journey, we recommend writing the entry after you have rested, so the details are accurate.

With Multiple Sclerosis Journey, the Flare Tracker flags the day and the Daily Journal takes a voice entry when typing is awkward, so a fall is recorded in your own words even when the day is a difficult one.

Multiple Sclerosis gait changes: what sources say impairment looks like

The Social Security Administration page describes the most common impairment in Multiple Sclerosis as some form of disturbance of gait. That phrase covers a range, and your own record can show which parts apply to you.

List of gait changes, by Multiple Sclerosis Journey

• Whether walking feels different on tired days or on rested days.
• Whether turning, stepping over a curb or standing from a chair is harder.
• How far you can walk before you want to stop, in blocks or minutes.
• Whether a rail, a wall or another person is needed in particular places.
• Whether the feeling is in the legs, the feet or the balance.
• How the same walk went last week.

The list does not diagnose anything. It supplies words and dates for what a neurology team will want to know, and it lets you say "this changed in the last month" with specifics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes falls among older adults as a threat to health that can reduce the ability to remain independent, a statement about adults in general that places your fall entries in a broader public-health picture.

Keep the gait list short, and answer the questions that fit. Some people prefer to answer one line a week, on the same day, so that the answers can be compared over a month. Others prefer to write when something changes. Either rhythm works, and the point is to have dates on the answers. A few lines each week are enough, and the pattern across weeks is more useful than any single answer.

In Multiple Sclerosis Journey, the Daily check-in records mobility or sensation and balance, and insights and correlations strengthen as the shared history grows, so changes in walking can be read across weeks.

Using Multiple Sclerosis fall entries at the neurology visit

Fall entries are most useful when the neurology visit starts with them. A short summary at the top of the page lets the clinician see the shape of the record before asking questions.

Write three lines at the top of the entries. First, the number of falls and near-falls in the last six months. Second, where and when they cluster, if they do. Third, what changed recently, in one sentence. Those three lines answer the first questions a clinician usually asks, and they leave time for the questions that follow.

Bring the fall entry table and, if you like, the gait notes. Say plainly what worries you most, such as a new pattern, a fall with injury or growing fear of falling, and ask the clinician what they would like you to record next. Write the answer as a dated line.

After the visit, keep adding entries in the same format so that the next conversation can compare the two periods. Keep the summary page short enough for a busy clinic to read quickly (Multiple Sclerosis Journey checklist), and see the guide to tracking Multiple Sclerosis labs and MRI dates for the test dates that belong beside it. If the clinician suggests a change to anything about your care, write it down and confirm the details before you leave.

For the visit, the Doctor Report in Multiple Sclerosis Journey exports a one-page summary of dates, fatigue, mobility, fog, heat context and how you functioned, and My Care Team keeps clinician names and what to ask and bring.

How Multiple Sclerosis Journey can help

A notebook by the door can hold fall entries, and many people start there. When you want falls, fatigue and balance notes in one dated history, the best Multiple Sclerosis apps guide compares the options so you can pick the one that fits.

Multiple Sclerosis Journey is a personal Multiple Sclerosis tracker from Health Journey Labs on the App Store and Google Play. For this question, it lets you log falls, near-falls and the tiredness around them in dated entries. After several weeks, that history shows the neurology team how your days have gone. Below is what you can use and how each part helps.

• Daily check-in — Logs physical symptoms, emotional state, nutrition, sleep, exercise, meds, external factors; app-specific items: fatigue, mobility or sensation, fog, heat or environment context; read together with the rest of the logged history.
• Flare Tracker — Logs flag a day clearly worse than the usual hard week, onset, intensity, short note; app-specific items: fatigue, numbness, vision, balance, fog, a crash; read together with history across weeks (one-off spike vs repeating pattern).
• Daily Journal — Logs free-text notes, voice entry; app-specific items: what the day limited, heat or travel context, partner talks, leftover guilt after you canceled; read together with scores and other logged history (adds context).
• My Meds — Logs medicine names, timing, dose; app-specific items: disease-modifying therapies and symptom meds you already use; read together with energy weeks, sleep, heat days, the rest of the tracked history.
• My Labs — Logs result dates; app-specific items: MRI, spinal fluid, blood counts, vitamin D, other tests; read together with fatigue, function.
• My Care Team — Logs clinicians, short visit notes; read together with logged history; used for: visit prep (what to ask and bring); notes during the visit; review afterward.
• Doctor Report — Logs one-page summary exported from logged history; app-specific items: dates, fatigue, mobility, fog, heat context, how you functioned; read together with the history already logged; visit type: neurology.
• AI companions — Logs Clara (general chat), specialist companions; app-specific items: knowledge, fitness, nutrition, relationships; read together with your logged history (companions already see it); used for: a calm partner script; a softer work line; a listening ear after a wiped day.
• Learn — Logs short education topics, prompts; app-specific items: fatigue, heat sensitivity, pacing, relapse vs bad day, visit prep; read together with your own logged weeks.
• Weekly Goals — Logs one small aim, whether it held.
• My Assessments — Logs structured check-ins beyond daily scores, onboarding life and social context; read together with ongoing history.
• Period Tracker — Logs start and stop dates, flow, how heavy or light bleeding felt; read together with fatigue, fog, heat, everything else logged.
• Food Tracker — Logs meal or drink lines, caffeine, alcohol; read together with energy, sleep, fog.
• Weight Tracker — Logs scale or body notes; read together with energy, sleep, flare.

Everything you log builds one history, and insights get stronger as it grows. Custom symptoms let you add your own labels.

Sources

• Cleveland Clinic: Falls and Multiple Sclerosis
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Multiple Sclerosis Centers of Excellence: Balance, falls and home safety
• Social Security Administration: Program Operations Manual System, Multiple Sclerosis
• MedlinePlus: Multiple sclerosis
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: About older adult fall prevention

FAQ

The answers below draw on the sources cited in this guide, and the app they mention is Multiple Sclerosis Journey (by Health Journey Labs).