Current exercise guidelines encourage the daily accumulation of lifestyle activities, such as stair climbing. Although several studies show that visual prompts can increase stair usage, there has been little systematic assessment of the messages employed. Some of the messages used in previous interventions represent general descriptions of stair climbing (e.g. 'free exercise'), while others emp...

BACKGROUND Stair climbing is an accessible activity with proven health benefits. This article summarizes the effectiveness of mall-based stair-climbing interventions, while controlling for, and examining, potential moderators of stair/escalator choice. METHODS Six comparable studies were identified, which used poster/ banner prompts to promote stair choice. Original data were combined and ana...

Previous interventions have successfully increased levels of stair climbing in publicaccess settings (e.g. malls). This study used robust methods to establish the magnitude of intervention effects amongst a specific target group – the overweight. Ascending stair/escalator users (N=20,807) were observed in a mall. A two-week baseline was followed by a five-week intervention in which message bann...

OBJECTIVE The objective of the present study was to assess whether patients unable to perform a preoperative maximal stair climbing test had an increased incidence of morbidity and mortality after major lung resection compared to patients who were able to exercise. METHODS Three hundred and ninety one patients submitted to pulmonary lobectomy or pneumonectomy for lung cancer were analyzed. Fo...

BACKGROUND Preoperative evaluation of lung resection candidates with impaired pulmonary reserves includes measurement of aerobic capacity. Stair climbing is an attractive low-cost alternative to treadmill exercise testing but it lacks standardisation. OBJECTIVES To directly compare stair climbing and treadmill exercise testing with respect to an established cut-off value for lung resection. ...

Stairway climbing provides a ubiquitous and inconspicuous method of burning calories. While typically two strategies are employed for climbing stairs, climbing one stair step per stride or two steps per stride, research to date has not clarified if there are any differences in energy expenditure between them. Fourteen participants took part in two stair climbing trials whereby measures of heart...

[Purpose] Currently, the six-minute walk distance (6MWD) is used to evaluate exercise capacity in people following lung resection for non-small cell lung cancer. However, it is unclear whether the 6MWD can detect changes in cardiorespiratory fitness induced by exercise training or lung resection. Conversely, the stair-climbing test is used frequently for the preoperative evaluation of lung rese...

Air consumption, oxygen uptake (VO(2)), carbon dioxide output (VCO(2)) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER=VCO(2)/VO(2)) were measured directly from the self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) as 36 professional firefighters (three women) completed scenarios of high-rise stair climbing and fifth floor search and rescue. During stair climbing VO(2) was 75+/-8% VO(2max) (mean+/-SD), RER=1.10+/-...

This study examined the relationship between perceived (stated) levels of function and the measured (observed) performance in squatting and stair climbing activities of 20 patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and 20 healthy volunteers. Subjects were asked through an interview to self-assess their ability to comfortably perform stair climbing and squatting as well as other tolerances. The ...

BACKGROUND Although studies have demonstrated that stair prompts are associated with increased physical activity, many were conducted in low-rise buildings over a period of weeks and did not differentiate between stair climbing and descent. PURPOSE This study evaluated the impact of a prompt across different building types, and on stair climbing versus descent over several months. METHODS I...