If you have difficulty keeping your balance or walking with a smooth gait, a walking stick might just be what you need to help you get around easier. Sometimes walking sticks are prescribed by doctors or occupational therapists, but sometimes patients decide to start using a walking stick on their own. In this article, our team give you the best advice for choosing the right walking stick for your needs.
1. What do you need the walking stick for?
If the walking stick is solely for helping you keep your balance, then a standard wooden or aluminium stick is the most appropriate choice. These walking sticks are lightweight and offer an extra point of contact with the ground, giving you a larger base of support for helping you to keep your balance.
On the other hand, if you need a walking cane to bear weight—either for an injury, recovery from surgery, or to ease arthritic hip or knee pain—then an offset cane will provide the stability you need. The offset handle allows you to lean more weight onto the cane’s shaft. For significant weight bearing, look for a quad cane. An offset quad cane provides four extra points of contact with the ground and can hold more weight than a single-point cane.
2. Is the walking stick the correct height for you?
The majority of aluminium sticks are height adjustable. Wooden canes are not. Prior to purchasing a walking stick, ask someone to measure the distance from the crease of your wrist to the ground, with your arm hanging down by your side. Make sure the walking stick that you buy is adjustable to this height.
3. Can you use it properly?
Using a walking stick incorrectly can drastically disrupt your walking gait. The stick should support your natural gait, not throw you off balance. You should bring the stick forward with your weak or injured leg. Move the two forward together as if they were a single unit.
Use the stick for support if you feel that you need it, but you shouldn’t hold the grip backwards or lean your weight excessively into the stick. If you need more support than a walking stick can provide, consider using rollator.
We hope that this article will help you on your journey to finding your perfect walking stick. With our headquarters in Cork, we are Ireland’s leading provider of high quality and affordable mobility aids. We would be delighted to assist you on your journey. We also offer next day FREE DELIVERY on all in stock mobility products, nationwide. You can check out our range of walking sticks here. Alternatively, visit our main store at http://www.osullivansaids.ie