Medical Equipment To Keep You Walking

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Choosing Excellent Home Health Care As someone who is fiercely independent, I never imagined myself living in an assisted living facility. For that reason, when I was diagnosed with a serious condition, my doctor recommended home health care. It was a little bit intimidating for me at first, but before I knew it, I was living at home, receiving the care I needed from the comfort of my own bed, and getting stronger each and every day. I had such a powerfully positive experience with home health care that I started this very blog. Read more about how home health care could help you or your family members.

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Ambulation is the key to a longer life. Walking reduces stress, pain and stiffness, and the possibility of future bone fractures and breaks. It also reduces your weight (if you happen to be working on that), which in turn reduces your risk of diabetes, heart and vascular disease, and high cholesterol. If you want to keep walking well past your seventies, but you find walking difficult without support, there are plenty of medical equipment options that can help. Try any of the following.

Canes

Traditional canes may be made of wood or metal. Most have a crook for a handle, but the metal adjustable canes have a rubber safety grip handle. At the opposite end, a rubber stopper prevents the cane from sliding across slippery surfaces when you are putting the cane down and leaning into it for support. If you are especially concerned with falling, try a tripod or quadruped cane, which has three or four feet at the end of the cane respectively (you may have seen these with large tennis balls on the ends of the three or four feet).

Walkers

​Walkers are for people who need even more support than a cane because their posture is hunched due to osteoporosis. You may also use a walker if it helps you feel more secure in your ambulation. Some walkers also come with cushioned seats, which allow you to sit if and when you find yourself out of breath.

Gait Trainers

​Gait trainers are frequently used in physical therapy rooms to help patients and residents learn how to walk again after hip surgery or a bad fall. However, anyone with a stiff and unsteady gait may use them to remain more mobile. The gait trainers are like walkers, except that the handlebars are higher, and the patient or resident is strapped into a support system that helps lift the weight of the person up just enough for them to shuffle their feet. Eventually, a gait trainer has the patient/resident walking again, and then this person can transfer to just a standard walker.

Leg Braces

​These leg braces seem almost animatronic in nature. The waist holster connects to metal and chrome components that stretch down to the feet. At the joints there are round pivoting areas that allow the person to move the joints without having to move with stiff-leggedness. Contact a home healthcare provider in your area for more information on this equipment.

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