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I heard a strange sound as I walked to the sink in the restroom just now, and turned to see a woman using an office chair as a wheelchair proxy. (The chair wheels made an unusual sound on the tile floor.) She has her foot in a cast, and yesterday she was using a walker.
She said she was trying to find the best way to get around in her current state; the walker had hurt her hands too much. I asked about crutches; she said she had tried those but they hurt under her arms. I told her that if her armpits were resting on the crutches, instead of hovering a couple inches above them, they were too long for her, a fact I think she had not considered. (Don't the ER folks try to fit these things any more?) Maybe I'll see her with crutches tomorrow.
I had a broken leg several years ago [1]. I was initially intimidated by crutches and handled the steps in my house while sitting (butt-slide down; crab-walk up; stayed off the banister :-) ) for the first couple days. I realized, though, that this doesn't generalize, especially outdoors in December.
Crutches turned out not to be that bad once I got used to them. By the end of this period of time I was, I think, far above average in proficiency. I once "ran" for a bus and was not much slower than if I'd had the use of both legs; the spectators on the bus were quite impressed. (My "stride" with crutches was longer than my regular stride, which made up for the basic inefficiencies in the form.) I could do steps easily, even on tricky surfaces. Snow was only a problem because of depth, not because of slickness. While it was a major cramp in my style that I could not walk while carrying an open can of Diet Coke, in most other respects the crutches were not a serious barrier to life. That really, really surprised me.
[1] I don't say "I broke my leg", because it was definitely not my action that led to that state. If you're going to run a red light while speeding (and with small kids in the car to boot!), you should at least look for obstacles like pedestrians.
She said she was trying to find the best way to get around in her current state; the walker had hurt her hands too much. I asked about crutches; she said she had tried those but they hurt under her arms. I told her that if her armpits were resting on the crutches, instead of hovering a couple inches above them, they were too long for her, a fact I think she had not considered. (Don't the ER folks try to fit these things any more?) Maybe I'll see her with crutches tomorrow.
I had a broken leg several years ago [1]. I was initially intimidated by crutches and handled the steps in my house while sitting (butt-slide down; crab-walk up; stayed off the banister :-) ) for the first couple days. I realized, though, that this doesn't generalize, especially outdoors in December.
Crutches turned out not to be that bad once I got used to them. By the end of this period of time I was, I think, far above average in proficiency. I once "ran" for a bus and was not much slower than if I'd had the use of both legs; the spectators on the bus were quite impressed. (My "stride" with crutches was longer than my regular stride, which made up for the basic inefficiencies in the form.) I could do steps easily, even on tricky surfaces. Snow was only a problem because of depth, not because of slickness. While it was a major cramp in my style that I could not walk while carrying an open can of Diet Coke, in most other respects the crutches were not a serious barrier to life. That really, really surprised me.
[1] I don't say "I broke my leg", because it was definitely not my action that led to that state. If you're going to run a red light while speeding (and with small kids in the car to boot!), you should at least look for obstacles like pedestrians.