Using crutches is an uncomfortable experience while you’re not habituated to it. But you can’t ignore the great benefit it provides to ensure faster recovery of the leg. To help you understand how to make crutches more comfortable, we will go through more detailed information that will give you powerful insight to manage your pain and encourage you to make the crutches more comfortable to speed up muscle restoration.
If the crutches don’t hurt your underarm or forearm muscles, you won’t feel discouraged to use them and comfortably move from one place to another.
Again, if you’ve to depend on crutches for weeks or months, then it’s a good idea to put some time behind it to make it convenient to use. Adding a cushion makes it more comfortable and eliminates underarm, forearm, and wrist pain forever.
So keep reading until the end to discover a few more interesting ideas to make your tough journey flexible and stress-free. However, it will also change your experience during the tough time of injury.
Add a Cushion:
Adding a cushion is one of the easy and useful methods to make your crutches more comfortable to use. Therefore, you can add a cushion on the top of the crutches to reduce pain and stress created in underarm muscles.
To do so, you can use a thick cloth, towel, or a piece of blanket, cut on the right size and thoroughly roll around the top of the crutches. To make it sustainable, use packing tape or duct tape and roll over the top portion of the crutches. To prevent unwanted slides, tape tightly around the cushion.
However, you can additionally purchase a cushion that will easily fit on the crutches. These medical assistance devices are made from breathable fabric and foam, affordable at price. Thus it will help you save your time and effort to assemble a cushion in the crutches.
Add a Pad on the Grip:
It’s a good idea to use a pad on the top of the crutches grip. It helps you to reduce pressure on your hand and relieve you from the tiredness of your hand muscle. After using a crutch, the hand becomes tired and sore because of the lot of energy you need to hold the grip of the crutch.
Here, you can apply the same technique as before. You can use cushioning on the grip and tightly rolled-up fabric and tape on it. Meanwhile, you can invest to add a commercial pad that reduces excessive pressure on the palm and stops hurting during the time of use.
Alternatively, you can spend time behind easy hand exercises to make your hand, forearm, and wrist stronger. Therefore, you can use the best hand exerciser to make the process comfortable for you.
Adjust Your Crutches:
Once you fail to fit the crutch at the right height then a cushioned crutch can hurt your armpit and forearm muscles. A tall crutch may create pressure in the armpit and eventually trigger pain. Whereas, short will negatively impact your posture.
Hopefully, nowadays all modern crutches come with easy-to-adjustable telescopic features. It will allow you to fit the height and make your movement comfortable. In order to adjust the crutch height, place it a few more inches away from your feet. In this position, crutch pads stay in the right position below the armpit. In this position, fix the top of the crutch.
After fixing the height now check the grip. As you adjust the top few inches below the armpit, it enables you to keep your elbow in the right position. Keep your wrist straight and align with your back. Now fit the grip at a comfortable position.
Choose the Right Crutches for You:
Physicians may recommend you use either underarm or forearm crutches depending on the condition of leg injury and time of usage. So pick the suitable one according to your need.
Underarm Crutch:
During the time of short-term injury, underarm crutches are recommended for patients. Meanwhile, it’s suitable for those who are capable of bearing weight on only one leg.
Forearm Crutch:
Forearm or elbow crutches aren’t completely stable to bear the weight of the body. So, It’s commonly recommended for patients who need long-term usage. It’s suitable for those who need additional support and are capable of bearing weight on both legs.
Use Your Crutches the Right Way:
Once you know how to make crutches comfortable to use, then you should pay attention to using it the right way. It will help you reduce the chance of further injuries and increase the chance to restore your hurt fast.
Hold the Crutch Right Position:
Hand and wrist pain occurs while you’re holding the crutches in such a way that creates excessive stress in hand muscles.
To avoid such pain, you should maintain a slight bend in your elbows when using the underarm and forearm crutches. Meanwhile, your forearm stays straight from the elbow to the wrist. In this way, you can minimize stress on your hand and relieve your pain.
Learn to Take Easy Footstep:
In order to avoid unnecessary stress on your joint, you should learn to carefully take footsteps while using the crutches. When you go to walk, first land your uninjured foot and keep your joint so that you won’t lose your posture.
Be Careful about Stairs:
Your everyday life becomes unbearable when you are dependent on the crutches. However, proper knowledge about how to use it the right way would reduce the chance of injuries.
Again, if you need to access stairs, be more serious about your steps. In this situation, take assistance from somebody else and take steps carefully and rest for a few seconds to reduce stress on your feet and wrist.
Conclusion:
It would be unbearable torment if no crutches were available near your hand during the time of injuries. As you know how to make crutches more comfortable, so follow the rules to ensure comfortable movement and faster recovery. What is your opinion regarding the comfortable usage of crutches? Let me know in your comment below.
Imtiaz Uddin Ahmed, BSc, is a health professional. He has been working with pain-related diseases and conditions for the last ten years, and he loves to give treatment without painkillers. Based on his experience with different types of physiotherapy manual techniques. He completed his BSc from Saic College of Medical Science and Technology. He loves to collect information from PMC. Here, he is sharing his opinion about various health conditions and health-related equipment. Find him on Facebook page here. Happy reading!