Over 700 people die each year from falling down stairs in the U.K.

theoldmiser

A friend of mine's husband died a few weeks ago, he had fallen down the stairs, and was in his early 80s. He was perfectly fit when I last saw him, a few months ago, and I don't know the exact reason he fell (i.e. did he slip, lose his grip, lose his balance, etc.) and my friend wasn't there when it happened.

An ex work colleague's husband fell down their stairs about six months ago, broke several ribs and was in hospital for several weeks, in extreme pain. Luckily he survived, and has made a full recovery.

Since finding this out, I now crawl down the stairs backwards, on my hands and feet. There is nowhere for me to 'fall', because I am already as close to the stairs as I can get - I can only fall upwards, because I am facing upwards. As I have three of my hands and feet on the ground at any one time, it's virtually impossible to even slip or miss a step. The worst that could happen is that I fall about two feet, face first, onto the stairs and stay there, it's impossible to fall and hurt myself, because my centre of gravity is so low.

Doing this in public places would be more difficult, I would probably want to wear gloves, but I can clearly see my feet and all of the stairs beneath them when I crawl down backwards.

If only this was publicised more, perhaps some lives could be saved.

I couldn't find a single video on Youtube of an adult going down stairs backwards, but this video about how to teach your baby to do it, shows the basic method.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QKYy5OLXDQ

(If that was my baby, I would have CARPET on the stairs, it looks so dangerous, that slippery and HARD wood. So obviously, I recommend getting carpet on your stairs (with underlay as well), if you have wooden stairs at the moment.)

As an adult, you want your hands and feet to be at least three steps apart - obviously this depends on how tall you are. The further apart your hands are from your feet, the safer you are.

You can easily try this method out - just crawl up the stairs until your hands are on the landing, then slowly come back down.

If you have weak hands and/or weak wrists, you can put your forearms on the stairs, and this places you even closer to the stairs, so you feel safer, because your head can only fall a foot or less if (big if) you were to somehow make a mistake.

GDB2222

I always hold on to the banister when going downstairs. I'm surprised that ONLY 700 people a year die from falling down the stairs. 

Section62

"Over 700 people die each year from falling down stairs in the U.K."

Based on my own circle of people I have known, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the death certificates for those 700 would show that there was a significant medical event which happened immediately before the fall in many of those cases... and the outcome if they had been crawling down the stairs rather than walking normally would be largely the same, except for the words written after 9.I(a) on their death certificate (and what that means for the collected statistics).

teaselMay

Section62 said:

"Over 700 people die each year from falling down stairs in the U.K."

Based on my own circle of people I have known, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the death certificates for those 700 would show that there was a significant medical event which happened immediately before the fall in many of those cases... and the outcome if they had been crawling down the stairs rather than walking normally would be largely the same, except for the words written after 9.I(a) on their death certificate (and what that means for the collected statistics).

Yep I'd say the same. Some event causing loss of consciousness resulting in fall

OP you're possibly more likely to actually fall from the top whilst getting into the position you're crawling down in. 

QrizB

Per RoSPA:

https://www.rospa.com/news-and-views/preventable-accidents-in-the-uk-are-rising

... 9700 people died as a result of falls in the UK in 2022.

Nevermind crawling down the stairs, you might want to think about crawling everywhere.

Or, alternatively, per the ONS there were 581000 deaths in 2023. Falling down stairs was 0.12% of them. Maybe it's not such a dangerous thing to do after all?

Spikeygran

I fitted a handrail both sides (and grab handles in the bath) years ago.  If nothing else it gives me confidence.

I'm a little worried about the turning around to crawl down backwards method.  I'm not sure its any safer for adults. If you were going down backwards, had an event (heart maybe) jerked upright and clasped your chest you'd go down backwards, with your head hitting the floor first.  The same event going forwards with decent handrails, you might be able to sit down and slide the rest of the way?? 

I worked in care and we did courses in accident prevention.  Trips like loose carpet, rugs, stuff dropped on the floor,  bad lighting and the wrong footwear were all top of the list.    Footwear in the house is a huge issue. Slippers that are good on the flat are often dodgy on stairs,  most slippers slop about and drop away from the foot when lifted.

theoldmiser

I should have said - when you are about to come down the stairs, you turn round BEFORE you get near the edge of the stairs, then get down on your hands and knees, and then crawl backwards towards the top of the stairs. So at no stage are you standing near the top of the stairs, with your back to them (which would obviously be more dangerous than standing near the top of the stairs, with your front to them!)

Re "and the outcome if they had been crawling down the stairs rather than walking normally would be largely the same," I don't think that's likely at all. For example, if you have a stroke while walking down the stairs normally, then you would probably fall and could die when you hit the bottom. If you have a stroke, or faint, or your leg gives out, while crawling down the stairs, you will just collapse ON the stairs, your hands will already be on the stairs, so your torso will fall about a foot onto the stairs and you will stay there. You can't fall down any further. You can't seriously injure yourself.

Spikeygran, you wouldn't be able to jerk upright - if you lost strength for any reason, you would fall forwards, UP the stairs, onto the stairs, about one foot, that's it. Why would you jerk upright? How would you do that? You would have to literally stand upright, rising from the crawling position, while having a heart attack, which nobody would ever do. If you felt faint, you would just relax your body onto the stairs from the crawl position.

QrizB, "per the ONS there were 581000 deaths in 2023" - those were mainly NOT caused by accidents. So yes, falling down the stairs IS something to worry about, I know now about it first hand from two people.

Have any of you actually tried to do what I suggested?

"You can easily try this method out - just crawl up the stairs until your hands are on the landing, then slowly come back down.

If you have weak hands and/or weak wrists, you can put your forearms on the stairs, and this places you even closer to the stairs, so you feel safer, because your head can only fall a foot or less if (big if) you were to somehow make a mistake."

Like I said - hundreds of lives could be saved every year if old people were to start crawling up and down their stairs.

Spikeygran

I did mean from the partial crawling/ kneeling position not full standing upright. 

Yes I did try it,  but was very aware that my face was close to the stair, and would probably strike the stair if my foot slipped?  Also it means coming down blind as cant see whats behind or if someone else has left something on the stairs.

FreeBear

Section62 said: "Over 700 people die each year from falling down stairs in the U.K."

Some 300 women die during child birth each year in the UK, and around 4,600 baby deaths occur each year. Reducing the number of pregnancies would help to bring the numbers of these deaths down.

housebuyer143

It's probably equally safe to shuffle down on your bottom so if you did somehow slip from this position you wouldn't go very fast or far. You can at least see what's coming that way and may get a few less stares in public.

shinytop

I can't speak for anyone else but when my dad was elderly and quite infirm he could walk up and down stairs with suitable banisters quite steadily and (IMO) safely.  He would have really struggled getting up and down from floor level though. That's a difficult manoeuvre for an elderly/frail person. 

There's probably a good reason why crawling isn't advised by professionals/charities.  There is some good advice online about how to make navigating stairs safer for the elderly and infirm.