Walking up steps

I also go up on the ball of my foot - not sure about coming down but if it's very early in the morning I do it very cautiously as our stairs creak dreadfully! Up to last year we had two bannister rails and I used both of them to haul myself up in latter years - they didn't match so we removed them and replaced one with a lovely wooden one - looks great but I do miss the other one. By the end of the day I often go up on all fours which my son thought was hilarious when he saw me the other day - his 2 year old does the same thing

I go up on the ball of the foot and down ball/heel. Similar to Merlot I developed 'ground floor legs' while living in a flat for 6 months last year. My old house had 20 deep wide treads. My new cottage has 12 and it was great to get back to relative normality. I'm staying with a DD for 2 months and am getting really fit running up and down stairs all day. Problems with my Achilles tendon on one leg and wonky knee on the other have improved vastly

Depends on the steps or stairs. I am early 70s and am pleased my own house has shallow wide treads. Have even been known to run at them going up. Bit nervous in my daughter's house carrying my GC downstairs where they are steep and with no banister. Always take them slowly and with great care. Going up is easier!

I study brochures, websites, photos a lot and read reviews before booking holidays to make sure there are no extra steep stairs, or open tread or spiral, nor a steep hill to get there.

I felt just the same at Chartwell, so had to give the studio a miss. I always use a handrail and take stairs slowly and carefully, up or down. Ball of foot going up, mostly whole foot going down as it feels safer.

Don't know if anyone will read this far, but because of an arthrodesis in one ankle and deterioration of the other, getting up and down steps is impossible without a handrail. Anyone been abroad recently? A short holiday in an Italian farmhouse built on a steep slope almost defeated me. No handrails inside or out and none in the precipitate streets of the nearest town. Glad I took two trek poles. I was also cross on a visit to Chartwell not to see Churchill's painting studio situated at the foot of a long set of steps with no handrails. However much Churchill had imbibed, he could evidently get upstairs. The National Trust should know better nowadays.

I do the ball of the foot. Just tried the whole foot ... it puts more stress on my body!

How about going upstairs on all fours? Much more comfortable especially on our stairs which are quite steep. I actually go upon all threes as I have one arthritic shoulder.

I still run up two at a time ,not so long ago I was half way up and realised I'd forgotten something so I twisted on my heel to come back down...and I did.. head first and broke my foot.Hasn't stopped me running up though .

I am very wary of walking up steps/stairs, it depends on the depth of the riser & tread. My DD's stairs are steep & narrow, I have to haul myself up by the banister.

Going down steps is a nightmare, I have to hang on as I often feel like I've missed a step

Definitely more cautious now I'm all on one level (apart from steps to doors outside but I have lovely handrails). Mostly I tackle steps/stairs by placing feet "sideways"

Gosh I feel old, I'm only 62!!! Mobility problems, at least I'm alive & relatively pain free.

Going up ain't so bad unless the banisters are glass as in some modern office blocks; but going down is an expedition. I'm OK at home but at railways stations / tube stations it's horrendous and I age 20 years in a few seconds!! I'm scared of slipping - been there done that and I don't want to do it again!

Anyone any tips for coming down stairs, I have large feet, 7.5 and find my foot catches on the back of the stair. I am always scared of tripping.

If you have a weakness, ie awaiting a hip replacement, you should always go up on your strongest one first and com3 down on the weakest one.
And if you are getting a little frail best you always go one stair at a time putting the whole foot on the step.

At worst, it's all fours for me! Sometimes it's both knees and sometimes they take it in turns to torment me. Consultant thinks TKR may be needed but is prescribing a new medication to deal with the pain. Meanwhile, I only have one loo and it's upstairs.

Any way I feel comfortable with. Its me that's struggling waiting for a hip replacement not someone else.

My neighbour told me that she always goes downstairs backwards. I've tried it and it is a lot easier, particularly first thing in the morning when the old knee joints are stiff. I do make sure I have a firm grip on the handrail and take it slow.

Maybe it depends on the breadth of the steps. On' I Escaped to The Country' yesterday (I think) they opened a door to very steep spiral stairs and I dread to think how you'd get up them - and getting down safely would be even worse.
I dread narrow steps on ferries and boats as well.

Urmstongran,

THIS is why I joined Gransnet - to hear how others are doing it (ageing gracefully, and being grandparents)! Your posts are so spot-on!! I too do the 'hand-rail haul', and the 'sideways' climb and descent - dodgy knees from years of extreme sports+trifocal lenses=dread of stairs now I'm in my 60s.

Our current home is becoming a nightmare - inside the stair risers are so narrow I hate having to make the climb, I'm always worried I'm going to fall. Outside the only way to the back garden (and my washing line) is via a set of 25 narrow riser concrete steps - I fell down those 2 March 2016 resulting in breaking and dislocating everything in my dominant hand-wrist-arm-shoulder-collarbone, and I still can't tie an apron behind my back. (And my tennis backhand is gone, just gone completely)

We're looking for a new home (hopefully by spring). Deal-breaker no matter how much we love the house is if there are ANY stairs in the garden. If the new home comes with inside stairs, the first thing we're doing is fitting a stairlift but my hope is we'll find a nice bungalow or cottage all on one level. Including the gardens.

MIL used to say it was her 'only exercise' whereas we just worried about her falling down them.

Basically a hanging on to the banister and hauling movement on a bad day. On a good day I spend a moment at the bottom wondering when stairs turned into the equivalent of Everest and then I am sure I will be fairly flat footed as I don't trust my balance.

Other than that coming down is more worrying but less effort but involve both the banister and the opposite wall. As I start by coming down first in the day that is the point when things are least flexible. Sometimes, a couple of hours later, I can go up and down doing a pretty good imitation of a normal human being although I am sure my feet will be flat so that the bits that have feeling can respond to the surface.

I have a feeling it is bungalow/flat time very soon but, in all honesty, I rarely think about it. You don't do you unless someone asks?

icanhandthemback: Perhaps take a little more water with it next time! ‘Joke,’. (Of course)

I would love to be able to walk up stairs, since contracting a severe infection in my "new" hip, I have not been able to.

I'm another ball of the footer. Or is that perhaps a footballer? .
Time was when I only ever climbed the stairs two at a time. Running. I can remember being puzzled that anyone would do it any other way. Oh for such youthful innocence

I haven't actually noticed but often have to go up on my knees at the end of the day!