Citation

Hamel KA, Okita N, Higginson JS, Cavanagh PR. Gait Posture 2005; 21(2): 135-140.

Affiliation

Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of California San Francisco, Box 0625, San Francisco, CA 94143-0625, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.gaitpost.2004.01.006

PMID

15639391

Abstract

It is likely that many stair accidents result from a trip during stair negotiation, yet few studies have examined the exact nature of balance loss during falls on stairs. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential age-related differences in the minimum clearance of the foot during stair descent, and to explore whether the minimum foot clearance was affected by the available ambient lighting. Twelve young adults ( [Formula: see text] years) and 10 older adults ( [Formula: see text] years) participated in the study. The older adults had significantly greater within subject coefficients of variation compared to the young adults, and had a significantly larger number of minimum foot clearances which fell below 5mm. While the young subjects increased their minimum clearance by 3.6mm on average in response to a decrease in ambient lighting, the older adults maintained the same clearance over all stairs except one. These results suggest that the variability of minimum foot clearance, and lack of precautionary increases in foot clearance under reduced lighting may contribute to falls on stairs by the elderly.