Risky behavior during stair descent for young adults: Differences in men versus women (Research about sex differences you never knew you needed to know)

[IwantToRetire]

Previous research has demonstrated that average injury rate of stair-related falls has a trimodal distribution with a peak for young adults in their 20’s, with women in their 20’s sustaining about 80% more injuries than men of the same age.

The purpose of this study was to quantify young adult behaviors during staircase descent, with the goal of identifying behaviors that increase fall risk on stairs, and to determine if young women are more likely to demonstrate these risky behaviors. Young adults engaged in behaviors that may increase fall risk, including not using the handrail, carrying items, using electronic devices, holding a conversation, and wearing footwear that increases fall risk.

Women demonstrated several behaviors that increase their fall risk relative to men: less likely to use the handrail, more likely to be holding something in their hands, more likely to be engaged in conversation, more likely to wear sandals and heels, and they demonstrated a higher number of co-occurring risky behaviors.

However, women also engaged in behaviors that may be protective of fall risk: less likely to skip steps and more likely to look at the stair tread during transition steps.

Overall, the observed sex-related differences are strengthened by the inclusion of both short and long staircases since similar sex-related effects were observed on both staircases.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0288438

The published article is quite long and so has much more information, but I still couldn't work out why the research had happened.

This is exactly what happened to me when I fell.down stairs and broke my coxyx! Was carrying my newborn, wearing socks in a rented house with stupid slippy stair carpet and feet went out from under me. Baby was fine, I was in agony for weeks. I think I was rushing as was tidying up as someone was coming round to view the house, organised by estate agents for about 3 days after I had given birth.

This is so totally about women carrying things on the stairs which men do way less of.

The stuff on the stairs issue put to music. 😁
DH is the one who injures himself in our house, but that's just walking up and down, he's never carrying anything!

Have fallen down the stairs a couple of times and wouldn't recommend it. Both times in a rush - another thing that women are perhaps prone to?

I wonder if the not looking down at the steps thing is from the expectation placed on us to glide down stairs magnificently like they do in old films. Notice how presenters wearing tall heels get a handhold from a strong armed man when they have to step off the stage these days.

That videomis hilarious. I've just sent it to do and my teenage boys. Anyone married to a woman or with daughters, does this still happen?

I want to know what the third mode of this trimodal distribution is. But I don’t want to click the article ☹️

No idea why you wouldn't want to click on an academic article, but the answer is:

"Falls on stairs occur across the lifespan [14–16]; average injury rate of stair-related falls in the United States demonstrates a trimodal distribution with peaks at ≤ 3 years of age, young adults in their 20’s, and adults ≥ 85 years [16].

Has anyone else paid attention to how many couples you see out and about where the woman is carrying all the heavy stuff and the man is strolling along unencumbered?
Yes. I'm the ill one with a bluebadge and walking stick and I'm still the person who ends up carrying the shopping bag while he strides off empty handed. Now I just stand at the shop exit and wait for him to come back. He's starting to notice other people looking at him and he doesn't like it, but yeah I was the child, buggy, shopping bag donkey while he had the oh so heavy car keys.

I'm an anomaly. I'm mid 40's and my bloody cat trips me up on the stairs every morning trying to get my attention because he hasn't been fed yet.

I fell down the stairs when I was 8 months pregnant. Bounced all the way from top to bottom. But instinctively managed to do it on my bottom. As I landed the baby went into a torrent of kicking. T'was actually quite painful. I just imagined her thinking "My God, what's she up to now?

A friend of mine broke her arm falling up the stairs whilst carrying a pile of ironing. She said she'd spent hours ironing it and didn't want to crease it.

I guess breaking your arm also saves you from doing ironing in the months afterwards as well!

AS someone pointed out upthread the research is about public stairs and I acknowledge that I helped derail / divert away from that.

So from what I skim read of the report it didn't for instance say if it was women in groups or mixed groups. I wonder if that would be different. Because apart from unsensible shoes is that women dont want to carry a cluncky satchel type thing and have bundles of books / files that slip around. Or is it that men have pockets and women dont, so are more likely to carry things.

But what it did remind me off was an incident some years ago.

Was on the escalators of a tube station, it wasn't late but definitely after work hours. I heard a group of women being quite merry and joking and then there was a shriek.

And in a way that had the shown it in a film I would have thought was impossible, this youngish woman in a smart casual dress had fallen face down and was literally surfing down the escalator as though it was a water slid. Laughing. I froze in fear, and have to say no one on the escalator pressed the stop button. (Shame on all of us)

But immediately behind her another woman was running down the escalator in unsuitable footwear and got to her friend who was now at the bottom of the escalator still giggling. Her friend, really quickly scooped all her hair up into a sort of bunch, which might seem odd but in fact I later worked out was to stop it being dragged under by the escalator. This could have lead to something really horrible.

So the friend with pony tail in one hand, just managed (as she was laughing too) to haul her friend up onto her feet and off the escalator, where they were joined by a third friend. They all just stood there laughing while the rest of us were open mouthed and stunned.

I've always remembered it because it could have been really nasty. But also because of the way the women were with each other, in such a supportive way.

I hope its alright to say that drink may have been taken.

(Its funny even just typing this and my stomach has gone into a knot because it was really frightening to see. But also those of us who were sober did not do anything.)

Just to say I think the examples of what happens at home are really interesting, and do seem to have a sort of shared theme - sadly. :(

Laundry features a lot in these thread stories. Laundry and babies. Laundry chutes, like in American and Canadian homes, suddenly seem really sensible. If we could have baby chutes, perhaps a scaled up version of those vacuum chutes with pods you used to see in supermarkets for moving cash away from tills, so much the better. 😂

(Air supply for the babies in the poss, obvs. We don’t want to replace falls with baby mishaps.)

I fell down the stairs. Dd was only a few weeks old, and she suddenly lurched backwards, I had no idea a newborn could have such a powerful lurch, the only way to save her from falling was allowing myself to fall backwards, so dd was protected by my 'still intact baby weight belly' as a fusion. Dd was 100%, I had some seriously impressive bruising down my back. Could have been so much worse though!
And yes the amount of times I start downstairs and get called back by dc seems a regular occurrence, I now hold the banister!

Fusion? Cushion obvs!

That makes total sense that some kind of primeval protective instinct kicks in. My spectacular fall downstairs happened when I was a student and I had two handfuls of mugs that I had cleared from upstairs in our manky rented house. Caught my foot on the hole in the stair carpet and ride down the stairs on my arse like a Carry On film holding the mugs in front of me on outstretched arms. Not a mug was harmed but I bust my coccyx and nearly passed out in pain. Up to now I never really understood why I didn’t chuck the bloody mugs and grab the bannisters.

Anatomy plays a big part in this.

The male pelvis is taller and narrower than a females and the acetabulum (socket) is placed more laterally (to the side).

The female pelvis is wider and deeper and the acetabulum on each side placed more anteriorly (towards the front).

So a man's legs are set on vertically whereas a woman's have an increased angle of the femur from the hip to knee region.

So women are less stable when walking.

Have a look at female athletes running and compare it to male athletes. The women's hips wobble more. That's why they can't run as fast.

This why women aren't as good as men at climbing ladders, and going up stairs.

Yes running downstairs in stockinged feet with armful of domestic detritus and or children

The smaller you are the harder standard stairs are to use. Children have a lot of stair-related accidents and probably not just because they've got less motor control and common sense in general. For little children getting upstairs can be quite a challenge even if they've otherwise mastered moving about perfectly well.

Stairs are usually designed and built by men, and probably (like many things) cater better for the average man than the average woman. Of course the average woman is smaller than the average man.

Let's not just blame women for risky behaviours when male-centric design choices probably have a role to play as well!

Its funny even just typing this and my stomach has gone into a knot because it was really frightening to see. But also those of us who were sober did not do anything
It can be very hard in 2 or 3 seconds to process what you're seeing, weigh the risks and respond appropriately. That's why people who are likely to deal with crisis situations are trained in advance.

Hmmm, for me in early 20s it would have been a bottle of vodka and a joint. Oh and I would be wearing sexy heels and a barely able to wiggle walk tight skirt.

Babies came much later as did my caution around stairs.

On a flight today and had stairs to disembark so I watched closely. About a third of the men held the rail. Only a couple of women did, who were both elderly. Is it possible that more men than women have worked in environments where it is an H&S requirement to always hold the rail so just do it automatically? (Building sites, industrial plants, military etc.) I remember being told off when visiting the head office of an oil and gas company for not holding on to the rail. “You wouldn’t bloody do that on a rig would you?!!” I always hold the rail now.

@IwantToRetire So the friend with pony tail in one hand, just managed (as she was laughing too) to haul her friend up onto her feet and off the escalator, where they were joined by a third friend. They all just stood there laughing while the rest of us were open mouthed and stunned.

Your story could have been very unfunny.

Warning - graphic picture - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12246309/Female-tourist-lose-leg-getting-caught-moving-walkway-Bangkok-airport.html