Broken-backed Baird on feet in parliament

A broken-backed NSW Premier Mike Baird has been forced to his feet in state parliament after taking a tumble at his Sydney home in the middle of the night.

Mr Baird moved slowly between his front bench seat and the lower house podium during Question Time on Tuesday afternoon, having fractured his vertebrae after slipping down stairs in his socks.

The premier didn't reveal any obvious signs of discomfort or pain when he stood to face questions about his government's controversial greyhound racing ban legislation to be debated later in the day.

Mr Baird suffered the back injury after falling down stairs with the lights out while attempting to fetch a glass of water at the weekend.

Surgery won't be needed but his recovery is expected to be slow, Mr Baird posted to Facebook and Twitter alongside an x-ray of his fractured vertebra.

The premier managed to see the funny side of a politician breaking his back, telling his followers to bring on the puns.

"Yeah, I know ... The punchlines for this pretty much write themselves... Knock yourself out (I almost did!)," he wrote.

And the punters certainly summoned the puns in their droves, with plenty of jokes about his greyhound racing ban and divisive Sydney lockout laws.

"Shows you can still have a good time without getting drunk in the cross!" Nathan Barton quipped.

Meanwhile, others joked the accident at least disproved accusations Mr Baird was spineless.

More users were distracted however by the image of the premier wearing socks to bed.

"Socks in bed, not cool," Geoffrey Ward responded.