Shashi Tharoor’s Fall Sparks Neurologist’s Warning: Why Using Your Phone on Stairs Is Dangerous

A video on social media showing Shashi Tharoor tripping while talking on his phone and walking down a staircase recently went viral. While you may brush it off as a moment of clumsiness, the clip has prompted an important medical warning from a Hyderabad-based neurologist. “This wasn’t about carelessness, it was about how the brain works,” Dr Sudhir Kumar from Apollo Hospitals wrote in a detailed tweet on X. Tharoor had himself tweeted the video of him stumbling down the Parliament staircase, and later informed that he had a fracture.

One phone call. One staircase. One misstep.This video of Mr. Shashi Tharoor tripping while talking on the phone and walking downstairs is not about clumsiness. It’s about the brain.(Glad to note that Mr Tharoor is doing

well🙏)Your brain is terrible at “walking + phone”… pic.twitter.com/KgNE7XxOYU

— Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM (@hyderabaddoctor) February 5, 2026

Why does your brain struggle with walking and phone multitasking?

While it is popularly believed that the human brain may not be designed for multitasking - especially when movement is involved, Dr Kumar said walking, especially on stairs, is a complex neurological task. When you go downstairs, your brain is constantly managing multiple processes at once:

• Maintaining balance
• Judging depth
• Placing each foot accurately
• Making split-second corrections to prevent a fall.

All of this requires focused attention. When a phone call or screen interaction is added, the brain is forced to divide its resources. Attention shifts away from movement, reaction time slows, and coordination drops. On stairs, that small delay can be enough to cause a misstep. “As a neurologist, I can tell you: Some of the worst head injuries I see are from simple falls, not big accidents,” Dr Kumar wrote.

Why are the stairs dangerous?

Staircases are among the most common sites of serious falls, even among healthy people. Unlike flat ground, stairs require proper and precise foot placement and continuous visual monitoring. A missed step not just leads to stumbling – but can also result in a rapid loss of balance and a fall with significant force. The head is vulnerable during a downward fall, increasing the risk of concussions, brain bleeding, facial fractures, and long-term neurological damage.Also read: Can Walking Reduce Belly Fat After 50?

People think they can handle it

“Your brain can focus on movement or on your phone, not both safely,” wrote Dr Kumar. Many people believe they can safely use their phones while walking since neither is a big deal, nor is it the first time they are doing it. However, your brain’s limits do not change with confidence. Even a brief distraction – maybe a call or a message, or just a glance at the screen can disrupt your brain’s ability to process movement accurately. Studies have consistently shown that phone use while walking reduces not just your speed while walking but also the gait stability, slows reflexes, and increases the risk of falls. Going downstairs magnifies this risk because the margin for error is already small.

Easy and simple ways to protect your brain

Dr Kumar has a strikingly simple and doable hack:

• Pause the call
• Look directly at the steps
• Hold the railing
• Resume your phone use only when you’re stationary

These small actions dramatically reduce the risk of falls and head injuries. They may feel inconvenient, but they protect something irreplaceable.