Stair climbing

About: Stair climbing is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1610 publications have been published within this topic receiving 30504 citations.

Stair ascent kinematics affect UHMWPE wear and damage in total knee replacements.

Abstract: Investigations were performed to characterize the wear patterns of tibial inserts in a load-controlled knee simulator by incorporating both normal gait and clinically acquired stair climbing kinematics and load conditions. Two different tibial insert designs were evaluated: the NexGen Cruciate Retaining Augmentable and NexGen Legacy Posterior Stabilized inserts. Two test conditions were run: standard gait only, and gait with bouts of stair climbing at a ratio of 70:1. Gravimetric wear measurements, damage and contact area assessments, and kinematic evaluations were performed. The addition of stair climbing kinematics significantly affected the wear behavior. Regardless of design, wear rates for standard gait tests were significantly higher than those that included bouts of stair climbing. The damage modes seen in both test conditions were primarily burnishing with secondary scratching and pitting. At 2 Mc, the damage areas were not significantly different between the two designs, but the damage area with stair climbing was significantly larger than that with gait alone. The fact that even small bouts of an additional activity of daily living could markedly impact wear simulator results calls into question the usefulness of studies that rely solely on kinematics and load inputs assumed from level gait.

Mind Your Step: the Effects of Mobile Phone Use on Gaze Behavior in Stair Climbing.

Abstract: Stair walking is a hazardous activity and a common cause of fatal and non-fatal falls. Previous studies have assessed the role of eye movements in stair walking by asking people to repeatedly go up and down stairs in quiet and controlled conditions, while the role of peripheral vision was examined by giving participants specific fixation instructions or working memory tasks. We here extend this research to stair walking in a natural environment with other people present on the stairs and a now common secondary task: using one’s mobile phone. Results show that using the mobile phone strongly draws one’s attention away from the stairs, but that the distribution of gaze locations away from the phone is little influenced by using one’s phone. Phone use also increased the time needed to walk the stairs, but handrail use remained low. These results indicate that limited foveal vision suffices for adequate stair walking in normal environments, but that mobile phone use has a strong influence on attention, which may pose problems when unexpected obstacles are encountered.

Multi-Joint Compensatory Effects of Unilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty During High-Demand Tasks

Abstract: Patients with total knee arthroplasty (TKA) demonstrate quadriceps weakness and functional limitations 1 year after surgery during daily tasks such as walking and stair climbing. Most biomechanical analyses of patients after TKA focus on quadriceps function and rarely investigate other lower-extremity muscles or high-demand ambulatory activities of daily living. The purpose of this investigation was to quantify lower-extremity muscle forces in patients with unilateral TKA during high-demand tasks of pivoting and descending stairs. Five patients with unilateral TKA and five age and sex-matched controls performed three bilateral high-demand tasks: (1) step down from an 8-inch platform, (2) inside pivot: 90° direction change toward planted limb, and (3) outside pivot: 90° direction change away from planted limb. Subject-specific musculoskeletal simulations were created in OpenSim to determine joint angles, moments, and lower-extremity muscle forces. The results indicate that patients with TKA adopt compensatory strategies at both the hip and knee. Patients with TKA demonstrated increased hip external rotation, decreased knee flexion, decreased quadriceps force, and decreased hip abductor force in all three tasks. These strategies are likely a result of quadriceps avoidance, which may stem from instability after TKA or a habitual strategy developed during the late stages of osteoarthritis.