Canes - Walkers, Rollator

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Ambulatory Products

Ambulation aids

Unfortunately, many patients receive little or no professional advice in selecting an aid. The patient's functional requirements should be matched with the proper walking aid. The clinician must also consider whether the patient has sufficient strength, balance, coordination and judgment to master the aid. The U S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that in 1987, crutches, canes or walkers were associated with 20,245 accidents requiring treatment in an emergency department.

Before a patient uses an ambulation aid, contractures may need to be overcome or muscles strengthened. The upper-extremity muscle groups used most often are the shoulder girdle depressions, elbow extensors, wrist movers and finger flexors. In the lower extremity, the hip extensors, hip abductors and knee extensors are particularly important. The patient must also have sufficient exercise tolerance to be able to walk with an aid.10,19 Final selection of an ambulation aid should be made only after the patient has had an opportunity to learn how to use it, preferably under the supervision of a physical therapist and a physician.

Ambulation aids (canes, crutches, Rollator, wheelchair, and walkers) are used by people of all ages with various locomotor disorders. Patients who may require an ambulation aid include the child with cerebral palsy, the teenage athlete with a sprained ankle, the middle-aged person with arthritis or hemiplegia, and the elderly person with an unsteady gait. The history, 1 biomechanics and useS4,1 of these devices have been well described. However, these effective therapeutic tools are often underused or misused. This article reviews the types of aids available and their proper selection and use.

Locomotion is the act of moving from one place to another, regardless of the method used-crawling, swimming or propelling a wheelchair. Ambulation is bipedal locomotion, or walking. An ambulation aid is a hand-held device used to help a person stand and walk. The most common varieties are listed in Table 1. Orthoses (splints and braces) and prostheses (artificial limbs) are not considered ambulation aids. Ambulation aids are most of ten prescribed to increase stability, to augment muscle action or to reduce the load on weight-bearing structures.

Canes, Walkers, Rollator, Ambulatory Replacement, Crutch Accessories.