Leda,
When I worked in a chemical factory, they taught us "how to fall". Ideally, we land on our butt since that is best padded. Skull, elbows and wirst are not the best thins to slam directly onto a hard surface. Also, the head has the farthest to fall and leverage gives it more speed if you go down stiffly like a tree.
You have to think about it ahead of time, or even practice, so that when you "start to go down" your body knows the right things to do.
Don't dance around trying to stay up.
Don't go stiff or land on your nose, an elbow or a wrist.
DO LOOK DOWN which bends your neck and protects your skull.
Imagine the line from your butt to the ground.
Bend your knees, slump limply, twist a little ...
... let your butt take the shortest path straight down.
Ideally your torso would fall straightish rather than pivoting like a tree.
The twist lets you hit with one butt-cheek and then fall to one side, instead of dropping backwards like a tree and whacking the back of your head onto the floor.
This can even look look graceful, as if you just decided to sit abruptly on the floor, or take a nap.
When I was in a spinal rehab, they also taught to say "falling" calmly, allegedly to alert the PTs that you were falling. I actually think it was to give us the illusion of control and make it less scary.
I had GBS, not a spinal injury, luckily! I got mostly better.
