TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Safety on stairs: Influence of a tread edge highlighter and its position
JO  - Experimental gerontology
A1  - Foster, Richard J.
A1  - Hotchkiss, John
A1  - Buckley, John G.
A1  - Elliott, David B.
SP  - 152
EP  - 158
VL  - 55
IS  - 
N2  - BACKGROUND: Falls sustained when descending stairs are the leading cause of accidental death in older adults. Highly visible edge highlighters/friction strips (often set back from the tread edge) are sometimes used to improve stair safety, but there is no evidence for the usefulness of either. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: To determine whether an edge highlighter and its location relative to the tread edge affect foot placement/clearance and accidental foot contacts when descending stairs. <br><br>METHOD: Sixteen older adults (mean±1SD age; 71±7years) with normal vision (Experiment 1) and eight young adults (mean±1SD age; 24±4years) with a visual impairment due to simulated age-related cataract (Experiment 2) completed step descent trials during which a high contrast edge highlighter was either not present, placed flush with the tread edge, or set back from the edge by 10mm or 30mm. Foot placement/clearance and the number of accidental foot contacts were compared across conditions. <br><br>RESULTS: In experiment 1, a highlighter set back by 30mm led to a reduction in final foot placement (p<0.001) and foot clearance (p<0.001) compared to a highlighter placed flush with the tread edge, and the percentage of foot clearances that were less than 5mm increased from 2% (abutting) to 17% (away30). In experiment 2, a highlighter placed flush with the tread edge led to a decrease in within-subject variability in final foot placement (p=0.004) and horizontal foot clearance (p=0.022), an increase in descent duration (p=0.009), and a decrease in the number of low clearances (<5mm, from 8% to 0) and the number of accidental foot contacts (15% to 3%) when compared to a tread edge with no highlighter present. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Changes to foot clearance parameters as a result of highlighter presence and position suggest that stairs with high-contrast edge highlighters positioned flush with the tread edge will improve safety on stairs, particularly for those with age-related visual impairment.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0531-5565
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2014.04.009
ID  - ref1
ER  -