# Do you go down stairs/steps without looking? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 17, 2011, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928 "2011-01-17T10:02:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/21 "2011-01-18T04:26:41Z")
I’m very careful on stairs. Considering I’ve done myself a major injury falling off someone’s front stoop, I think that is prudent. ---
**Author:** ![Merejane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Merejane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merejane)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/22 "2011-01-18T04:41:36Z")
Like Staggerlee, looking at my feet as I walk up or down stairs makes it worse. If I don’t look, it’s just automatic. If I focus on what I’m doing too much, which happens when I watch my feet navigating the stairs, the automaticity gets messed up and I will almost always misstep. (This seems to be a problem especially with going downstairs, I think because gravity is also doing it’s part to trip me up.) On the other hand, I don’t have great balance. I deal with that by holding onto the handrail, at least when going downstairs – but without looking at what my feet are doing! ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/23 "2011-01-18T05:09:18Z")
If I don’t look where I’m going I’ll certainly fall down the stairs, and even moreso now that my balance is for shit and my knees don’t like me. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/24 "2011-01-18T05:23:44Z")
Until I shattered my heel, I did not always look and descended stairs at just under the speed of sound. Since I shattered my heel ( and my bad leg has been known to collapse under me) I either hold the railing loosely (ready to clamp down in 1 millisecond or less) or I look very carefully. I miss the old days. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/25 "2011-01-18T09:31:11Z")
One other thing, I never go down with my feet flat on the step. I always have the edge of the step under the balls of my feet. This means that I can feel each edge and I suspect that it gives me a datum point and makes it easier to judge the distance from one step to the next. (Again, this is all unconscious. I didn’t really click that I was doing this until this thread came up so I took interest yesterday in how I descended stairs) ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/26 "2011-01-19T01:24:03Z")
Having feet larger than the tread on a standard stair step means I descend on the balls of my feet and I have to hit the leading edge of each step in order to be able to put my heel down. I’m usually aiming for a 1-2" wide target, so I look. That having been said, stairs I’m very comfortable with are no-look stairs, but I use handrails regularly. It happens often enough that I hit a little too far forward and slide a bit(especially in dress shoes) that I use the handrail. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/27 "2011-01-19T06:55:09Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > On a related note - anyone else get frustrated with tiny piddly-arse steps that your feet can’t fit into? My feet, though admittedly large for a girl, are only average-sized for a human, Man here, I wear a US14 shoe. Going up not a problem, you only need to get the ball of your foot fully on the tread. Going down is the issue: Easy to clip your heel on the step above as you try to catch the next step with the ball of your foot. One way that works well is to turn partly sideways, so your feet will fit diagonally on the treads. The only stairs that really fit me are escalators. Death to stand on the left escalator riders! To the OP: I look at the first couple steps, then get the feel and don’t look. Only if the steps are unequal do I look at them all. This violates building codes, so you typically only find unequal steps in landscaping or art buildings. (Hundertwasser’s Kunstlerhaus for example) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/28 "2011-01-19T07:13:44Z")
Yes, in fact I navigate from the living room to the bedroom every night in complete darkness, and (at least in the winter, when the mornings are dark) from the bedroom back downstairs in the dark. (with a lighted interval in the bathroom in each case, lights on after closing the door) - because I go to bed long after anyone else in the house, and get up before them in the morning. In normal daytime circumstances, I navigate ordinary stairs without looking at them - peripheral vision plays a part. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/29 "2011-01-19T14:41:58Z")
It depends on the staircase, but usually I look. If I am very familiar with it, though. I’ll still run down it. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/30 "2011-01-19T14:45:57Z")
I’m a looker. I also count them as I ascend/descend. ---
**Author:** ![rayman5321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@rayman5321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayman5321)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/31 "2011-01-19T15:00:44Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Rosie5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Rosie5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosie5)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/32 "2018-09-22T05:30:47Z")
> [@Jormungandr](#): > > Inspired by this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=255837). I can’t go down stairs/steps without looking where my foot is going. I see people IRL or in movies walking down stairs in a house or steps in front of a building/courthouse/etc while talking and not looking as if it were nothing. Except for the two steps on my porch, I can’t do that. Anyone else this way? I’m the same way, exactly. Always have been. I don’t fear going down. It’s more like I can’t retain the visual memory of where the step is. That’s the only way I can explain it. I met someone yesterday who feels the same way. It’s the only other person I know who has this weird disability. I am also a very coordinated person, so it’s not that. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/33 "2018-09-22T10:39:31Z")
You Dopers must have all been younger in the year of 2011, when men were still men, women women and zombies zombies. I was young once myself and raced up and down stairs, paying little heed. Even if I stumbled … no problem: I had quick reflexes. At some point I started making a point of keeping one hand on the rail and proceeding with caution. I often carry things (e.g. dirty dishes) on the stairs; then I proceed with extra caution. I don’t have any particular injury or impediment; it’s the brain itself which doesn’t work quite as well as it did a dozen years ago. (And if I don’t watch my feet, at the end there will be one more—or one less—stair-step than I was expecting.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/34 "2018-09-22T11:21:45Z")
At home, I almost never look; I _know_ the stairs. Besides, I am often carrying stuff. I do all the family laundry, so if I’m carrying a couple baskets of laundry down the stairs, I can’t see the stairs below me at all. In the stairwells at work, if I’m going down stairs normally, I have a hand on the rail, but I don’t need to look. I’ve been in my current building for a dozen years; I know the stairs. But my wife works two floors below me, and if I’m dropping in on her, and not carrying stuff, I’ll bounce down the stairs two at a time, because stairs bore me, and this puts them behind me faster. When I do this I’ll have a hand on the rail, but I also damn sure watch where my feet are going. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/35 "2018-09-22T11:54:58Z")
I’m w/ **septimus**. 2011 was before I shattered all 3 bones in my L ankle. Just going down a short flight of stairs in my home - my foot slipped off the front edge of a step, and I essentially sat down, with my foot folding back. I used to just rapidly skitter down stairs - almost a controlled fall, without a thought. Nowadays (at 57), I always look for and use a handrail. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/36 "2018-09-22T11:56:22Z")
Even at home I look to some degree; and even use the guiderail. Sometimes my knee can fold on me and I want to keep a clear view and be ready to grab on should I need to. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/37 "2018-09-22T13:56:25Z")
Ever since falling down stairs and snapping off my wrist bone I not only look while walking downstairs, but walk very slowly, make sure both feet on one the step before taking the next one, and often hug the wall while walking downstairs. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/38 "2018-09-22T15:48:45Z")
Never. Plus I wear progressive lenses so I have to be very careful. These out of service escalators on the DC Metro have driven me crazy the last two days ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/39 "2018-09-22T16:04:54Z")
I have arthritis in my right ankle. The first couple of steps down are always tricky for me – it takes a few ‘forced’ bends to get the ankle reasonably flexible. So at the top I hold onto the rail tightly and step cautiously and, yes, watch to see where my foot is landing. After I’m sure things are working properly I can take the rest of the stairs normally. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928/40 "2018-09-22T16:30:58Z")
There are times I don’t pay a lot of attention to steps (i.e. going downstairs in the morning when I know from habit where and how many there are). Then there are times like last night when I was carrying trays loaded with spiny Euphorbias down the basement steps. One misstep and I could have wound up plummeting to the bottom, impaled by vicious succulents. :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-down-stairs-steps-without-looking/567928.md?page=3)