By Travis Boman, Christopher Long, Samantha Corbridge, Alex Braeger, Christopher J. Dakin, Sara A. Harper

Secondary Effects of Stair Striping on Stair Negotiation

Secondary Effects of Stair Striping on Stair Negotiation PDF File

Introduction

  • Stairs can be concern for injury.
  • A proposed strategy to reduce fall risk involves enhancing visual contrast of the stairs’ edge and face.  
  • In evaluating the above strategy we also sought to determine:  
    1. Does staircase striping affect walk speed?
    2. Do mobile phone distractions decrease handrail use?

Methods

  • Black and white stripes were placed perpendicular on the stair face on the first and last steps for intervention and black strips placed on the step's edge.
  • Four motion sensor security cameras recorded ascent and descent.
  • Data collection included walk speed, handrail proximity, handrail use, and distractions (e.g., mobile phone use).

Results

  • Stair striping did not increase walk speed (p=.616).
  • Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation
  • Individuals who had mobile device distraction decreased handrail use.
  • Distracted individuals used the handrail (90/(90/2,827)) = 3.1% of the time. 
  • Individuals who were not distracted used the handrail (483/(483/7,629)) = 5.4% of the time.

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While stair striping did not alter walk speed, handrail use on stairs decreased among individuals who were distracted by a mobile device.

Stairway with black and white strips on side on top and bottom stair.A stairway with out strips.
Figure 1. Ascending staircase intervention with visual contrast on each stair (left). Ascending staircase control (right).

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Using a difference of proportions z test, there was a significant reduction of handrail use for individuals who were distracted by a mobile device (p=.014).

Bar chart displaying walk speed of intervention and control groups.  Both had the same speed at about .85
Figure 2. There was no difference in walk speed (m/s) between the intervention (int) and control (cont) conditions, p=.616.

 Limitations

  • COVID-19 affinity to touch handrails
  • A proportions z test comparison limitation is that not all the observations might be considered independent due to the same people going up the stair multiple times.

Implications 

  • Distractions during staircase negotiation may prevent handrail use
  • Distractions could limit handrail use if an impeding fall does occur.

Research was Supported by:

  • Utah State University Office of Research Undergraduate Research Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunity (Mobile Device Use's Impact on Handrail Grasp and Fall Avoidance Strategies: Long, Corbridge)
  • American Heart Association (Postdoctoral Fellowship 20POST34990005: Harper).

Travis Boman

Department of Biology

Travisboman10@gmail.com