Hand Crutches

As I have become better using a walker, my therapist has begun to teach me how to use hand crutches. Using hand crutches is significantly scarier than using a walker because you are way less stable. In addition, as the video shows, getting up using hand crutches can be scary especially at first. To get up using hand crutches you need to push yourself to a vertical position and then, quickly moving the crutches, catch yourself before you fall over. 

Initially I had a lot of problems getting to a standing position using a walker and I felt and probably still feel that in the long-term the best solution is to learn to use hand crutches. As I learned better technique with the walker and specifically have improved my ability to stand up from a seated position I see hand crutches as probably inevitable but less urgent. It is certainly true that there is less equipment involved with hand crutches and that the equipment takes up less space and is more portable. Now that I am at home and using a walker there my therapist has been concentrating almost exclusively on the use of hand crutches, a skill that I am still developing.

The video below shows something like my third attempt to walk using hand crutches. It is not very pretty but then I never imagined that whatever I got to would be elegant. I'm assuming that over time my technique will improve and specifically that I will become more stable. I have been discovering that there are things that are difficult to do with a walker. Some of these such as walking down a slope (the walker feels like it may have a tendency to roll away from you) or walking on an uneven surface may well prove easier when using hand crutches.