Association of individual fall risk with standing measures on a step ladder

The relationships between general fall risk and standing measures during ladder use were assessed both with and without a concurrent cognitive task. Individuals with higher fall risk scores had increased time to complete the ladder task and reduced dual-task performance. Other ladder standing parameters (e.g. elliptical COP area) did not correlate with fall risk. However, individuals with high fall risk had an increase in sway (path length) during the dual-task. This suggests that high fall risk individuals prioritize balance over task performance and experience cognitive overload when dual-tasking on a ladder compared to low fall risk individuals.