What safety tips would you have for people forced to use crutches

[james_davis_nicoll]

(Which does not include me at this time)

Storm drain grates are sometimes wide enough to let a crutch tip through.

Crutches slow you up a bit, enough if you're exiting by the rear door of a bus and you are wearing a backpack, the door can close on the backpack and haul you sideways.

Your head at mid-stride will be just a little higher than it was and those lintels you now just clear will now be obstructions.

Anything else?

Comments

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Do not use more than one crutch while ascending or descending stairs ... Unless you name me as your beneficiary, first! ;-)

Beware of puddles and fallen leaves.

Brace yourself before trying to open a door -- falling over is so undignified.

[dagbrown.livejournal.com]

When I was given crutches, the physiotherapy went well out of his way to give me detailed lessons on how to ascend and descend stairs while using them.

While going up, you prop yourself up on the crutches and, if the bad leg is okay to take some weight, the bad leg. Then make sure you step up using the good leg, and repeat the procedure. When going down, you put the crutches down on the lower step, and then carefully step down, bad leg first then good leg afterwards.

That way it maximizes the amount of work the good leg can do. If both of your legs are bad, this gets more complicated of course.

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

The physios at my work have a saying: "good knee to heaven, bad knee to hell" on other words, use the good knee going up, bad knee descending.

[dbdatvic.livejournal.com]

This was also carefully explained in one of the Great Brain books; basically, the leg doing the lifting or lowering should be your good leg.

I am not on crutches, but my feet are now odd enough that I go _down_ stairs backwards, which makes it somehow more apparent that it's the top foot doing the lowering.

--Dave, will march to a different drummer for food