Now what do I do with this cane?
January 22, 2011 11:09 AM   Subscribe

I'm looking for tips and tricks to manage the logistics of using a cane/crutch as I go about my day.

Because of the progression of my rheumatoid arthritis, my physical therapist has suggested I begin using a mobility aid. Over the last week I have used a cane and it has been very helpful. Next week I'll begin using a forearm crutch as a cane, as that will result in less pressure on my wrist joint when I weight bear.

My question is regarding the logistics of using a mobility aid, whether it be cane or crutch. I've tried propping it up at my desk or where I'm sitting in a meeting and it's constantly falling over. In addition, I use my cane in my dominant hand and find it really awkward trying to do things (open doors, carry things) with my non-dominant hand.

Are there tips and tricks on how to manage the cane/crutch itself during a meeting, at the movies, in a restaurant or bar? How do you manage carrying things when one hand is occupied? Any suggestions on bags, backpacks, etc to use when you have a few things to carry? Many things to carry?

I'd really appreciate advice on how to manage my day from folks that have experience with using a mobility aid. Thanks!
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit to Health & Fitness (15 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
I haven't tried a cane holder, but it seems like a good idea for hanging on the edge of a table or desk.
posted by Ery at 11:20 AM on January 22, 2011


I am surprised you weren't given a referral to a physical therapist or given any instruction on how to use a cane/or other assistive device. Please let your physician know this, there are proper ways to use such items so that you aren't compromising other muscles, your gait, your back and how is the best way to handle the situations you are asking about.

The questions you have, in my experience, have been answered by a physical therapist. I think you need to ask your doctor for a referral. It's what I would do, if I were you.
posted by 6:1 at 11:37 AM on January 22, 2011


Response by poster: Maybe I wasn't clear in my question. My physical therapist is the one who suggested the cane/crutch and I have received training in walking, going up and down stairs, walking on inclines, etc. The actual usage of the device isn't what I'm asking about.

I'm interested in other's experiences in where they stash their cane at a restaurant or a movie, how they manage carrying their "stuff" during the day (is a backpack better than a rolling bag or do you find a tote bag better).

I'm all good with actually walking with my cane, I'm inquiring about the tangential issues of managing my day while using the cane.
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 11:50 AM on January 22, 2011


Best answer: I don't use a cane every day anymore (surgery + a lot of PT mostly fixed the issue I had), but did for a few years. At the risk of sounding silly because of all the trivial shit I worried about, here goes:

A messenger bag is really handy! It took a while for me to find one that I could actually hold open and rummage through with only one hand. I wore it on the same hip as my cane-using hand so I could reach across with the other, and that was fine for carrying a few things, like odds and ends home from the convenience store. I got a backpack for bigger stuff—I was a student and sometimes needed to carry around a day's worth of books/snacks/diversions. Oh, also I decided that it was perfectly okay to sometimes stop walking and rest the cane against a wall so I could use two hands to rearrange stuff. I dropped things a lot less once I gave myself permission to do that.

The first time I went to a coffee place, ordered a coffee and a sandwich, and had the coffee handed to me in a mug and the sandwich on a plate, I was a nervous wreck trying to figure out how to get both things to a table with one hand without dropping either or both and making an enormous mess. After that, I asked for the sandwich in a bag (so I could put it in my handy messenger bag!) and all was well.

I was a pretty big fan of bars with tall chairs, because I could actually hook the cane over the arm or the back and have it hang there. (This doesn't always work so well if it's a regular old chair… I knocked my cane over a lot.) Restaurants with coat racks right next to tables were great because the cane could just hang there and it'd be within arm's reach. Otherwise, tables right next to walls so that the table + wall make a corner for propping up the cane. The cane holder that Ery linked to looks pretty useful.

At movies I was afraid of knocking the damn thing over by accident and causing a disruptive clatter, so usually I would just hang on to the shaft with one hand for the whole time. There's probably a smarter solution, but movie theatre seats aren't really configured for hanging things off of, and I'd hate for someone to trip over my cane in the dark.
posted by bewilderbeast at 12:10 PM on January 22, 2011 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: bewilderbeast, thank you! that's EXACTLY the kind of information I'm asking for. Very helpful!!
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 12:14 PM on January 22, 2011


Best answer: When I was on (two) crutches, I tied a ribbon around one of them and used it to tie them both to convenient anchor points, like the legs of tables and such. I was able to hop a few steps without the crutches, so often I could prop them up in the corner of a room and get to my seat without them. Meeting rooms with wheeled chairs were great---as far as I can tell, nobody minds a cripple scooting a few feet on a wheeled chair, even in contexts where that would be indecorous otherwise.

With auditorium seating, I tried to get seats in the aisle row and lay my crutches on the ground with the end end under my seat and the rest protruding under my neighbor's seat. That way, nobody would trip over them. If your arthritis prevents you from bending over far enough to get the crutch under your own seat, I would imagine it works almost as well to lay them against the legs of the next row's chairs. Anything to get them on the ground (so they can't fall further) and out of people's walking paths.

Not sure about bars. I always sat in the booths anyway.

I don't remember any problems opening doors with my non-dominant hand, so I can't advise you there. Wouldn't you have to switch off between hands even without the crutches, depending on how the door is hinged? Or do you mean you have trouble balancing against the pull/push of a heavy door?

A messenger bag worked fine for me too, for exactly the reason bewilderbeast describes, but if you go that route, make sure it lets you tighten the carrying strap as far as you like, because you will like it high on your back and strapped right down. A lot of knockoffs are meant to swing around by your hips, which will be inconvenient.

On preview: Also, your physical therapist might be able to discuss the ergonomics of carrying a messenger bag with you. I think there are some non-trivial details about how to support the weight, maintain good posture, and manage the asymmetry of using just one crutch and hanging most of the weight of the bag off one shoulder. (Talking to a girl might also be useful: they have some magical ability to put a third of their body weight into a tote and hang it off one shoulder.)
posted by d. z. wang at 12:33 PM on January 22, 2011


Best answer: I've been walking with a cane for the last few months and crutches before that because I broke my left femur a few months ago. Some points:

1) I started drinking out of a nalgene all the time because it had a lid and a loop so you can still carry extra stuff and let the nalgene dangle from a finger, a point on the crutch, or throw it in a bag. This was a bigger deal when I had two crutches and couldn't carry anything like a glass of water, but I kept doing it after because it was convenient. Now I can limp without anything so I don't do it as much.

2) Backpack seems to be the easiest thing, for me at least. A two-straps backpack. I basically started carrying a small backpack all the time. Personally, I find it extremely difficult to pull a bag with the cane, and one-shoulder options like messenger bags don't seem to feel balanced right on either side. You really need to have something, especially with a forearm crutch, because you can't carry anything. On the topic of backpacks, make sure you can carry your cane IN your backpack. This is important for things like riding a bike.

3) The cane/crutch falling-over problem...I don't know a good solution. Canes and crutches seem engineered to maximize their falling potential. They slide off of every surface. They are magnetic to the feet of passers by, especially waiters. The crutch is a lot harder to deal with in restaurants and stuff because of its greater length and bulky cuff. The cane, I just hang it from the back of the chair next to me, or put it against the wall in a booth, say. Sometimes in restaurants the staff will offer to check your cane with the coats after you sit down, but this is kind of a no-go because of going to the bathroom, etc. Basically, the cane is going to spend a lot of time clattering to the floor by accident.

4) It's surprising how fast you go through those rubber cane tips. You also might want to just change them because they get gross and smelly. If you find a place that sells the small/thin grippy kind, buy a lot. They are hard to find.

5) It's way more convenient to have a cane who's handle at least allows it to hang from your forearm. You end up hanging your cane from your forearm all the time. Like, say you are holding a drink, but you meet someone and need to shake their hand. Say you need to write something in a notebook. The first cane I had had no curve to the handle at all, it's nice to have enough curve that this will work. It also makes it possible to hang the cane from other stuff, like coat hooks, sometimes. If you get one of those flat-handled medical canes, try attaching a lanyard or something to it so you can hang it from your wrist at least.

6) You have to start looking at the world for its supply of natural canes. Like, in the grocery store, it's really hard to push a cart and use a cane. But you can stand closer to the cart and use it as a cane, and then let your cane ride in the basket. Going up and down stairs applies as well. Or, for another example, in the airport, getting one of those carts and using it to carry your weight AND your luggage is a lot easier than having rolling luggage.

7) You have to remember, in bars, that you cannot carry rounds of drinks any more and someone has to come with and help you.

8) What kind of forearm crutch do you have? The ones from Smartcrutch are really adjustable and comfortable. Its worth spending money on this stuff because you hands/arm/shoulder/back will KILL from this.

9) Enjoyable things about having a cane: air guitar, pretend its a golf club, charlie chaplin, use it like a big hook to annoy people, lean on it thoughtfully to make yourself seem wise. There are some fun parts. Every once in a while there is a perfect situation where you can't reach something but with the cane used backwards, you can. That is pretty satisfying and hilarious. Also, you can use it to make your gestures really dramatic.

10) On airplanes, you can give your cane or crutch to a stewardess and ask them to put it with the coats, and then once you take off, they will get it for you. If you have a cane you can usually get it to like under the seats at an angle, or alongside them. That way you have it if you need to get up and its not buried in the overhead bin.

11) You might think there's a community of "cane brothers", like maybe when you walk down the street and you see someone else with a cane you'd tap canes, or at least nod. In the USA, no one does this. I'd say there's a few hundred people in the USA who think I'm crazy because when I first had my cane I'd be looking at people, all nodding and smiling, thinking "come on, we're cane brothers!" and people just looked away or looked confused. I thought it would be like when you ride motorcycles, or you drive a lesser-known brand of car and you see another one on the road. It's not. When I moved to Argentina though, I found that people do do this, at least a little, so its a regional or cultural thing. Old ladies would stop me on the street and be like "look how similar our canes are!"

12) I think those ugly medical canes with the plastic handles are for the most part, the easiest on your body, but those grips make your hand pretty gross after using it all day, and they are just a bummer, looks-wise. Personally, I think the season one House grip style is the most comfortable. Also, when your hand starts to get crampy, you can use it backwards for a few minutes, which doesn't work good but it at least changes it up. The forearm crutch though is by far the most comfortable.

13) Another unexpected annoyance in the realm of not being able to carry food trays, multiple drinks, or other two-handed operations is that when you are carrying something heavy, you can't switch hands. This ends up being surprisingly annoying, and is another reason to have some sort of bag that carries weight on your shoulders.

14) I'm sure you'll realize this soon if you haven't already, but people treat you really differently when you have a forearm crutch, at least in the USA, which your profile says you live in (other countries use forearm crutches by default instead of armpit crutches) than say a cane. If you have a cane, people are like, "Oh, fine. A person with a cane. No big." If you have a forearm crutch you are a Sick Person. Obviously, this makes no sense, and it sounds kind of silly, but...it gets old and makes one prefer the cane (there are million other reasons why having a cane is more convenient, especially out and about).

15) Depending on your situation, getting in and out of the shower can be quite interesting. At first I'd just hook my cane over the shower curtain rod. But then I got to the point where I could limp enough. But its way easier if you have something in the vicinity of the shower you can hold on to. In a tub-style shower, not only do you have the getting over the bathtub wall issue, everything is slippery.

16) In the realm of Nature's Canes, be careful with railings. Some of them are not as strong as they look. I almost fell down a flight of stairs when I was leaning on the railing with one hand, and carrying my crutch in the other hand, because the section of railing I was holding on to broke off in my hand.

17) I keep meaning to get some stick-on rubber feet from a hardware store or something and put a couple on either side of my cane, to see if that will help it stay in place when leaned against walls, but I haven't actually gotten around to doing it. Something to think about though.

18) It's really hard to walk on the beach. You need like a 'snowshoe' attachment, which I'm not sure exists. Also, grates, like subway grates in the sidewalk.

19) My gout-suffering friend, on sword canes: "They're not very good swords, and they're not very good canes." I suspect this holds mutatis mutandis for cane-umbrellas, cane-daggers, etc.

20) Public bathrooms: use the stalls and hope there's coat hooks, else hang it over the door. Alternative is cane leaning in filth and sliding into worse filth.

That's all I got right now, HTH.
posted by jeb at 12:48 PM on January 22, 2011 [6 favorites]


Best answer: I've pondered cane holders, but it seems like one more thing that can make a loud, attention-getting noise while I'm screwing around trying to get it to work for me.

Generally I put my cane (it's a standard 34", sin-ugly ancient wooden object, but it gets the job done) on my desk next to my phone at the office; my desk is a 35" deep partitioned section of a worktable I share with three coworkers, so that works. I lay it behind me in restaurant booths and pick it up as I'm leaving, but this might not work for you depending on your mobility. (I have mine in case of Sudden Obnoxious Vertigo Episode.) I stick it in the cupholder in the movie theater, since the cupholders are usually open-bottom now and I usually don't have a drink with me.

Getting food from buffet lines still sucks, though. I shove it under the arm that's holding the plate and hope for the best.

And yeah, I like the two-strap standard backpack with water-bottle holder. If I don't want to carry that much, I just suffer the indignity of the cross-body purse and carabiner my water bottle to that.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 1:42 PM on January 22, 2011


As a supplement to the clip-style cane holder, you could carry one of these nice little magnet hooks around in your bag. Together with a lanyard or hanging loop kept on the cane, this would let you use most any metallic surface in your surroundings as a secure place to hang your cane. And sticking things up with magnets is fun.
posted by Corvid at 2:32 PM on January 22, 2011


Maybe a purse hanger would do the trick if you attached a loop of ribbon to your cane.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:35 PM on January 22, 2011


When I broke my femur, I found foldable canes like this one to be very useful. While probably not as easy on the wrists as a forearm cane, they did have the advantage of collapsing very quickly into a small size - small enough to go into a backpack or even a large purse.
posted by centerweight at 7:38 PM on January 22, 2011


Would a Leki Wanderfreund work for you? It's a lightweight telescoping walking stick with a T-handle. It collapses down to 18-24 inches or so which might give you some more options about where to put it or hang it (via the convenient cord loop through the handle).
posted by TruncatedTiller at 6:01 PM on January 23, 2011


Best answer: I used armpit crutches and then a candy-cane style cane after I busted my knee a few years ago. A couple of things that worked for me:

1. I used the crutch or cane as a footrest most of the time when seated. I'd put it between my legs, resting up over my inner thigh, sticking out in front of me, and rest my bad leg on it. Kept it in my personal space, with the long end in front of me where I could keep an eye on approaching people, and since my knee didn't like being bent, it made sitting more comfortable.

2. I used the crutch to hold doors open. I'd approach a door from as far away as possible, throw it open, jam the crutch into the floor as far as I could reach, and it would keep the door from swinging shut on me as I hopped through. So if the door opens to your crutch side, stand away from where the door opens and use your non-crutch hand to throw the door open- kind of fling it so it opens farther than needed- then jam the crutch down about 2 feet from the doorjamb so you have space to go through.

3. You need a backpack. If your hips can take the pressure, then I suggest getting one with a hip belt; the weight of the backpack will feel better if it's partially on your hips than all on your shoulders. An elastic pocket on one side for a bottle is nice to have, too. Sometimes I hung my cane off my backpack strap (near my hip).

4. I got temporary nerve damage in my hands from the pressure- my pinky fingers were numb for months. I had the marshmallow-shaped handle cushions on my shoulder crutches at the time. I suspect the flatter, more orthopedic shaped handles would have been better- anything that distributes the weight over a wider area of your hand.

5. Can you put a hook up at your desk for the crutch? Maybe one that goes over your cubicle wall, or a 3M sticky one? Put some kind of loop on the crutch to hang it with?

6. At the movies I'd wedge the crutch into the gap between my seat and the next, and put a coat or something over it to keep it wedged in there. Make it stick up tall rather than putting it out at an angle, so no-one trips over it in the dark.

7. There is a huge community of disabled ppl on YouTube who post tutorials for adaptive life skills. Looking through the "using crutches" videos and the related vids in the sidebar will probably yield good tips.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 6:56 PM on January 23, 2011


I use a quad cane (four footed cane) and the advantage is, it stays upright on its own once you let go of it.

Would something like this work for you? ^_^
posted by Hot buttered sockpuppets at 9:10 PM on January 23, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks all for the great answers, especially you guys who have been in the same situation. Good ideas and great tips!
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 8:44 PM on January 24, 2011


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