Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago. I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon. (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some.
Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried.
John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this part worked best. I pushed down the metal parts, and John pulled to adjust the height.)
After that, I made a similar adjustment on the bottom part of the crutch, matching my exact height.
The final step was to figure out where the hand grip should be, which was done by bending my elbow at a 30 degree angle, and then inserting the long bolt through the grip at that location. (The 30 degree angle is fairly intuitive, though I did have my engineer husband verify my measurement.)
By following those steps, I found near-instant relief, and I'm happy to say, I don't need the crutches anymore.
What simple item are you thankful for today?
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| Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall |
Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried.
John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this part worked best. I pushed down the metal parts, and John pulled to adjust the height.)
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| Photo: A close-up of the handle of a crutch, and the little metal pieces used to adjust the height |
After that, I made a similar adjustment on the bottom part of the crutch, matching my exact height.
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| Photo: A close-up of the specific height adjustment on the lower end of the crutch. (The heights are color-coordinated to match the height range of the upper part of the crutch.) |
The final step was to figure out where the hand grip should be, which was done by bending my elbow at a 30 degree angle, and then inserting the long bolt through the grip at that location. (The 30 degree angle is fairly intuitive, though I did have my engineer husband verify my measurement.)
By following those steps, I found near-instant relief, and I'm happy to say, I don't need the crutches anymore.
What simple item are you thankful for today?
Nice feature on the crutches for correct adjustments. I'm thrilled you no longer need them.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a nice feature, too.
DeleteI guess they have a generic brand for nearly everything these days! I use a lot of generic brands if it saves money and does the same job.
ReplyDeleteI certainly didn't need designer crutches! :-)
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