A near miss in the shower

[Shannon SteelSlave]

I didn't know where else to post this, if it even belongs anywhere on this board, but I think I should share.
I was taking a shower and I suddenly slipped. I wasn't fooling around or anything. My Martial Arts instincts kicked in, and I caught myself by sides of my claw foot tub, only bruising my left forearm, elbow, upper back, left knee, ball of my right foot, and my right palm. If you ever have to fall backward, the right way is to try to "slap" the ground as you come down with your hands at your sides.
It scared the Sugar Honey Iced Tea out of me and I would like to ask for advice on how to treat my tub to prevent this. I have one of those plastic rubber mats there now. I am still shaken mentally, my bruises will heal in a few days. I have been pushed to the ground from behind on the street once (Land on your forearms for a front fall, if you can, I landed on outstretched palms, which could have broken my wrists, but thankfully didn't that day) and had to start self defense from that position, and that didn't scare me the way this did. Hope to shake it off soon and do some work tonight. Hope this story helps people and brings me some good advice.

[bound_jenny]

I had a scare in that very same circumstance, once, a dozen or so years ago. I started slipping in the shower, but I eventually managed to stay on my feet after some very frightening seconds of tap dancing in the tub.

It was on one of those rubber anti-slip mats with the suckers on the bottom. It was quite effective at preventing me from slipping on the mat but quite dismal at not slipping on the tub's surface.

I threw the blasted thing out. My bare foot stuck better to the tub than that stupid mat (I tested that).

A better option is those big ugly sticky-back rubber flowers that you stick to the bottom of the tub. At least they don't slip by themselves.

I know that it's done with some tubs at the factory (thanks to How It's Made), but it might be possible to do it with an already installed tub. Some kind of sand is sprinkled over a stencil pattern laid on the bottom of the tub, and then a coating of enamel or something like that is sprayed over that to seal it in and form a rough, patterned surface in the bottom of the tub. Some companies can re-coat your tub in place.

Hope this helps.

Jenny.

[Gregovic]

Yep, that'll get your heartrate up a few notches. Nearly cracked my head open myself once. There are product like this TubGrip for instance to give more grip in the bathtub. I don't know how well it works, as I've never used it myself. I picked textured, somewhat grippy tiles specifically designed for bathroom use for the floor in my bathroom and shower for this exact reason. I suspect that like with any non-slip surface it probably requires a scrub with a stiff brush every once in a while.

[Shannon SteelSlave]

Taken care of the problem, though now I am in doubt if I should have done anything. If I had hit my head, I might have had a vision, a revelation, and invented the flux capacitor.
Anyway, any shower/tub players out there, be careful. Easy to suddenly lose traction and fall, especially if tied or being suspended in a way that requires you to remain standing. Probably not easy to crawl out of if wet.