On Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 3:37:49 PM UTC-5, Jim Joyce wrote:


Going down stairs backwards sounds pretty dangerous to me. You might
want to try to come up with Plan B...
I was thinking the same thing, but I just saw his explanation for doing it
that way. I'm not old enough to argue.


Really, you should try it both ways. I do it that way in the morning, not so much to avoid falling, but because until the joints loosen a bit it's much easier to go down backwards. There are more joints that need good range of motion forward. I have arthritis developing from old injuries and they're stiff in the morning. I spend the first half hour stretching while I drink my morning coffee.

I will grant that backwards can be dangerous if someone has left clutter on the stairs that you didn't notice. Especially roller skates, hate that.

When the children were toddlers I made them do "tummy in" on steep stairs. It was clearly safer. Similarly coming down a ladder frontwards is a mistake most people only make a few times, although I've run into some stubborn knuckleheads who got hurt more than they needed.