How to choose a walking aid that suits you?

Compared with crutches, walkers have a more complex structure and more supporting legs, which means a larger supporting area. Therefore, they can provide more stable support than crutches and help patients walk. Compared with crutches, its advantage is that it can reduce the weight of patients' legs and improve their walking ability, but its disadvantage is that the walking speed of a walker is slow. Although it works well on flat ground, it is inconvenient to go up and down stairs. In addition, the size and structure of a walker are larger and more complicated than crutches. There are more precautions for use and storage. How to safely use a walker that suits you will be the main topic we need to discuss today. So let's take a look together!

Commonly used mobility aid products

1) Ordinary frame walker: There are two types of frame walkers: fixed and foldable. Using this type of walker does not require good balance, but requires relatively sufficient upper limb strength, because using this type of walker requires both hands to lift the walker and move forward.

2) Step-frame walker: This type of walker adds low-position support armrests to the ordinary frame walker. This design enables patients to easily move from sitting to standing by holding the low-position armrests. It is suitable for patients with poor muscle strength in both hands to transfer from sitting to standing.

3) Differential Frame Walker: This walker is equipped with a hinge structure based on the ordinary frame walker. The advantage of this structure is that the patient can hold the two sides of the walker and move forward alternately. Compared with ordinary walkers, this walker is relatively more flexible and walks faster. Patients with insufficient upper limb strength can push the walker forward without lifting it, which is the biggest advantage of this walker.

4) Two-wheeled walker: The two front feet of this walker are not the anti-slip covers of ordinary walkers, but two wheels. When using this walker to walk, the patient does not need to lift the walker, but can directly push it forward. Therefore, this walker is suitable for patients with poor muscle strength in both hands, and patients with poor balance ability in both legs can use this walker.

5) Four-wheeled walker: This type of walker has wheels on all four legs, making it more flexible to use and faster to walk. The patient does not need to lift the walker to walk. However, this type of walker requires a high level of balance. Patients who use this type of walker generally do not have strong upper limb muscle strength, but have relatively high lower limb balance and coordination abilities.

How to determine the height of a walker

When using a walker, be sure to stand up straight, do not lean too far forward on the walker, and do not lean too far backward, as this can easily cause a fall. It should be noted that each patient's walker needs to be adjusted accurately and carefully. This allows the patient to walk more comfortably and flexibly with the walker. The right height can make the patient feel that the walker is not a burden or encumbrance when walking, but like a third leg on his body.

What should I pay attention to when walking with a walker?

First of all, it should be noted that the use of walkers is mostly to meet the needs of daily life in the early stages of rehabilitation and maintain the patient's existing functional level. However, in the middle and late stages of rehabilitation, one should not rely too much on walkers and must gradually transition to using crutches and other assistive devices or even walking independently.

Second, when walking with a walker, you need to wear suitable sports shoes. When using both hands to control the walker forward, you should also be careful not to place the walker too far forward. Always keep your body upright during walking to maintain the best balance during walking and prevent accidents such as falls.

Third, before walking with a walker, you need to stand still for 2-3 minutes with the walker in your hand. The purpose of this is to prevent dizziness, falls and other accidents caused by postural hypotension.

Fourth, before using a walker to walk, family members or caregivers need to pay special attention to whether the walker is stable and safe, especially to check whether the four legs of the walker are in stable contact with the ground, whether the handles are loose, whether the wheels can rotate flexibly, and whether the buckles are fixed.

Finally, patients with different diseases and different physical functional conditions need to use different types of walking aids.

The popular science content of this platform has been funded by the China Association for Science and Technology's Science Popularization Department's 2022 National Science Literacy Action Project "National Society Science Popularization Capacity Improvement Project-Rehabilitation Science Popularization Service Capacity Improvement Action Plan"