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Balance recovery reactions during stair descent and the impact of handrail design parameters

One of the most effective ways to prevent a stair-related injurious fall is to use a handrail. If proactively using the handrail, the individual may close their grip to generate a stabilizing force in response to the balance loss. Otherwise, one may execute a quick reach-to-grasp reaction towards a handrail to generate appropriate forces that may counter the forwards or backwards falling motion of their body. A well-designed handrail, that is easily graspable and permits sufficient force generation, will reduce the severity of the consequences of a misstep during stair descent.

There is currently limited empirical evidence relating to handrail design to support fall prevention initiatives. This insufficient evidence base has been an obstacle to developing and adopting safer building codes. Our handrail-related research for aims to bridge knowledge gaps regarding safe handrail design and understand the role of handrail design in dynamic “real-life” fall conditions.

Our research aims to characterize balance recovery reactions during stair descent, and to evaluate how handrail design parameters affect graspability, balance recovery reactions, and subsequent falls stair descent. We use our state-of-the-art StairLab in the Challenging Environments Assessment Laboratory to induce balance recovery reactions during static and ongoing stair descent scenarios. Three-dimensional, biomechanical tools are used to capture kinematic and kinetic measures of interest. Research findings to date have been disseminated to impact Canadian codes and standards.

Specific project objectives include:

  1. To characterize balance recovery reactions following forward and backward balances losses during ongoing stair descent

  2. To determine the effect of handrail cross-sectional profile and size on balance recovery reactions

  3. To determine the influence of handrail height on balance recovery reactions

Project funded by:

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant)

Project output: 

** publications from vkomisar and pgosine

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phone: (416) 597-3422 ext: 7713

550 University Ave, Toronto, ON, M5G 2A2, Canada

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