Assuming you have physics damage off, I feel like the fall damage change is a consequence of fall damage changes for physics damage.
Small damaging falls cause you to crouch and take a bit of damage, when physics damage is off, said small falls fully ragdoll you instead.
This also actually applies to explosions. With physics damage on, you take maybe a tiny bit of damage when a reasonable distance away from an explosion, but when physics damage is off, seemingly just being anywhere near an explosion ragdolls you.