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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to forget how to walk down the stairs?

26 replies

soapybubbles123 · 20/03/2015 13:24

I have no idea why it happens Confused

If I'm walking down a long flight of stairs, say at a train station my brain suddenly stops being able to coordinate my feet.

I end up stumbling about half way down and usually end up falling off the last few steps, the saving grace being that I mostly land on my feet as opposed to a pile on the floor.

Please tell me it's not just me Blush

OP posts:
meglet · 20/03/2015 13:25

it's not just you. I go all peculiar sometimes too.

Faez · 20/03/2015 13:26

yep happens to me too.

FelixFelix · 20/03/2015 13:27

Yes I do this. I also have a massive fear of forgetting how to walk down stairs anyway so it's awful!

Molotov · 20/03/2015 13:51

I'm okay with stairs but doors sometimes baffle me Blush

LuckyLopez · 20/03/2015 13:52

Yes this happens to me!

PourquoiTuGachesTaVie · 20/03/2015 13:59

Is it all stairs or a particular set. I saw a programme on tv once which said that if stairs aren't completely uniform in height then even a small difference in just one step can trip people up. Our feet and brain figure out how high the steps are and when one suddenly changes we don't expect it.

ElviraCondomine · 20/03/2015 14:02

I am fine unless I look down, then I freeze. In my case it's a horrible combination of a paralysing fear of heights, and varifocal glasses.

LumpenproletariatAndProud · 20/03/2015 14:02

Snap! Not literally. I get this too.

LumpenproletariatAndProud · 20/03/2015 14:03

In my teens if au was walking past a bunch of fit boys Id suddenly forget how to walk. Blush

SoonToBeMrsB · 20/03/2015 14:03

Yes, I get this too! I focus so much on not tripping that my feet go all funny and I can't walk anymore.

LuckyLopez · 20/03/2015 14:05

Mines just random, usually if I look down at my feet. It's easier if I just look straight ahead. Suddenly looking at my feet makes my brain try to think too hard about left right left right, so it just stops.

OttiliaVonBCup · 20/03/2015 14:07

I get that.
Sometimes it's dodgy light that throws me, of the lay of the steps.

Original poster
soapybubbles123 · 20/03/2015 14:09

LuckyLopez That's exactly it!! As soon as I start concentrating it all goes to pot and I just can't get me feet to obey me.

OP posts:
Original poster
soapybubbles123 · 20/03/2015 14:13

DH is also fond of telling people about the time I fell over some invisible hazard in the middle of the pavement and ended up in the road.

One minute I was walking along and the next I'd started a career as a human speed bump.

No idea what happened there either

OP posts:
UghReally · 20/03/2015 14:16

One minute I was walking along and the next I'd started a career as a human speed bump.
that had me laughing too much! it happens to me but im just a clutz anyway.

Lucked · 20/03/2015 14:16

My friend had a really old house and one step was higher than the rest, tripped me up every time. They use to say it was an old fashioned bulgar alarm and I was never sure if they were joking or if it was an actual thing.

GiddyOnZackHunt · 20/03/2015 14:20

I do it too. Anxiety, fear of heights and crap balance conspire against me and if I stop not thinking about it then I can't do it.

I once fell over on NYE meeting my then bf's laddish mates on the way to the pub sober.

Thurlow · 20/03/2015 14:21

Oooh, I get this too. If I start thinking about what I'm doing, I can't seem to do it properly anymore. Sometimes I'm walking along and I suddenly start thinking about how to move my legs and arms, and I'm sure I start walking like a tit.

The worst in when you're walking down Tube escalator stairs and there's nowhere to stop and no room to move on the standing side and you just have to try and keep going...

Original poster
soapybubbles123 · 20/03/2015 14:26

GiddyOnZackHunt I did that toooo Confused

As a student I rarely drank but venue after a night out of drinking cranberry juice I still managed to fall out of the bar.

The bouncer caught me before I bounced off the pavement and into the road.

Seriously, I must want to get run over.

Instead of apologising and walking off in a straight line to demonstrate my sobriety I decided to insist that I wasn't drunk.

Surprisingly he didn't believe me Sad

OP posts:
HarimadSol · 20/03/2015 14:31

I do this. The stairs are even, so I have no excuse. It made me very nervous when my DD was born. Thankfully, I haven't fallen down while carrying her yet.

It's worst when I'm carrying a basket of laundry down, and I can't see my feet to know whether I have any more stairs to go down. I get very jumbled then and can't figure out where my feet should go.

IWillOnlyEatBeans · 20/03/2015 14:38

I do this too!

Littlef00t · 20/03/2015 14:40

Especially when escalators are off and you have to walk down them, the lines make my head go funny and I end up going reaaaly slowly annoying all the commuters.

eggyface · 20/03/2015 14:58

Apparently if we all did ankle raises while brushing our teeth, or something equally physiotherapyish, we could all canter down with the grace of a sure footed mountain goat.

StayGoldPonyBoy · 20/03/2015 15:01

I used to do this at college. I was on the 10th floor of a huge building with thousands of students and one lift so it was quicker to run up which was fine, but coming down made me come over all funny and my knees would lock and I'd feel like my feet weren't listening to me. Bizarre. Always after about the 3rd flight so I had to navigate 7 with confused legs.

GlitzAndGigglesx · 20/03/2015 15:02

I can't look at stairs when going down or it puts me off. Same with pavements if I look down then back up I somehow buckle and look a right twat

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