Horses v stairs

For some years now, there's been an ongoing argument between one of my sons and me over which is more dangerous; motorbikes or horse-riding. Today, he has won, for I read in The Times that horse riding is twenty times more likely to cause serious injury than riding a motorbike. I have to say, I was surprised (fortunately, he's at a conference in the U.S. this week, so may not get to read it).

But. More dangerous than either, in my opinion, is something nearly all of us do several times a day; going up and down stairs. At the yard where my horse lives, one rider and one instructor have both lost their mothers, killed by falling down stairs. Another instructor was paralysed falling down stairs, and I broke my back twelve years ago falling down stairs. Stairs are dangerous.

And yet do we ever see health warnings about the dangers lurking on the staircase? Red meat, processed meat, alcohol, cigarettes, even conkers...all have press attention regularly devoted to their attendant dangers. We are told to test our smoke alarms, and be careful when handling fireworks. The dangers of driving are regularly aired.  But of stairs, not a word.

Perhaps we should have a Minister for Stairs. Seriously.

On falling downstairs

Did you know that over 1000 people a year die from falling downstairs? No? Neither did I. But I found out about it today. Funny, that. We are warned of the dangers of drinking, smoking, eating fat/carbohydrate/pretty well anything - in fact nearly all the things that make life worth living - and yet something most of us do every day is that dangerous.

I fell downstairs nearly nine years ago, and was lucky. I flew from the top to the bottom without touching a single stair (clever, eh?) and only broke my back. (Yes, thank you. I'm more or less ok now, although it still hurts at times.)

But if this has alarmed you, there is help at hand in the form of some useful advice on the internet under the heading of "How to not Fall Downstairs". I'll forgive the split infinitive, for the advice is invaluable. An example:

Taking steps more than one at a time, jumping, running, skipping, dancing, or any other movement besides walking slowly drastically increases your chances of falling.

There. Aren't you glad you read this? And who knows.I might just have saved a life. Which makes it all soooo worthwhile.