On 01/31/2015 12:27 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Due to neurological issues, descending a staircase is becoming
increasingly problematic for Yours Truly.

Current strategy is going down sideways holding the railing, but a
collapsed knee could defeat that.

If I take a header, seems like the best outcome would be a quick
death... but the most likely outcome would be long term disability.

That being said....

Is anybody familiar with assistive devices to mitigate the risk?

A mini-elevator seems like overkill to me - and also a space-eating
PITA.

Ascending, no problem... worst case a bruised knee or something.

I'm starting to think in terms of some kind of quick-on-quick-off
harness attached to a spool whose speed of unwinding is governed.

You put slip the harness on around the chest, start going down the
stairs, start to take a header, and the inertial brake on the spool
kicks in reducing the header to something more like a straight-down fall
on to one's butt or knees.

Anybody been here?




Hope you are OK

The day after my first knee surgery (many years ago)
I went flying down all the stairs because I did not know how to descend.

Fortunately I didn't make anything too much worse.

Many here had suggested a stair lift and that may be a good idea.

If your arms still have decent strength though. a railing on /both/
sides of the stairs may do the trick