Exploring the effects of wearing facemasks on stair safety characteristics in young adults

Abstract

Introduction: Facemasks are worn in many industries to protect from infections and harmful substances. Asian countries historically have a wide adoption of facemasks; though due to the COVID-19 pandemic, facemask wearing is also common in western countries. The lower visual field provides important information for safe stair negotiation. A loose fit facemask may obstruct the lower visual field and negatively affect stair negotiation. Pinching a facemask nose clip provides contour around the nose which may reduce lower visual occlusion and negative stair behaviour effects. Here, we explored the effect of wearing a Type IIR facemask and nose clip pinch adjustment on lower visual field occlusion and stair walking behaviour

Method: Eight young adults ascended and descended stairs with; 1) no facemask, 2) unadjusted facemask, 3) customised facemask (nose clip pinched). Measurements included peak head flexion, lower visual field occlusion, stair duration, foot clearance, foot placement, margins of stability, Conscious Movement Processing and anxiety.

Results: Unadjusted increased lower visual occlusion during descent (unadjusted = 32° ± 14° vs no facemask = 11° ± 14°, p < 0.001), (unadjusted vs customised = 21° ± 15°, p = 0.009) and ascent (unadjusted = 47° ± 12° vs no facemask = 25° ± 11°, p < 0.001), (unadjusted vs customised = 35° ± 11°, p = 0.005). Unadjusted increased conscious movement processing during descent (unadjusted = 16 ± 5 vs no face mask 11 ± 4, p = 0.040) and ascent (unadjusted = 16 ± 5 vs no face mask = 10 ± 3, p = 0.044). Bayesian inference indicated moderate evidence for the alternative hypothesis for descent duration, peak head flexion and anxiety. Anecdotal and strong evidence for the alternative hypothesis were found for ascent duration and anxiety respectively. No differences were found in foot kinematics or margins of stability.

Discussion: Simple adjustments (pinching the nose clip) to a Type IIR facemask have the benefit of reducing the lower visual field occlusion an unadjusted mask creates, and helps improve stair safety characteristics in young adults.