hey everybody it's doctor Jo, and today I'm going to show you how to use a cane
properly. so let's get started.
Before we get started,
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make sure you ring that Bell. so let's start off with how to adjust your cane. a
lot of people have that question. I see patients come in a lot and it's not the
right height for them. this is really important because if you don't have the
right height, it can end up making you either lean over a lot or have your
shoulder come up a lot and that's going to cause pain in other places. so this is
really important. the biggest thing is it's not an exact number, but you should
really have about a twenty to thirty degree bend in your elbow. so when I'm
standing, it should be slightly bent. that reason is you don't want it
straight out because a lot of times if you're leaning into it and you don't
want that bend so high where your shoulders coming up to your ear. so again
you don't have to pull out a goniometer in which is what we have what you would
check in the clinic, but you just want it to be comfortable with a slight bend and
that head the handle here should be about where your greater trochanter is.
and you're like what is that, and that's basically that hip bone that sticks out,
that's about where you want it. so this is about the right height for me. I'm
going to turn and you can see there's that little bend in the elbow there. so
if it was straight I probably have to be lean into it a little bit. so that's why
you want that little bend. most canes have this little knob here. sometimes it's
down at the bottom so wherever it is what you want to do is it has usually a
little twist spot right here, and this is just to tighten it up. so it's really
tight I've gone the wrong way. so you want to loosen that up first
because it goes up and down. and then you just click on the button
and you can go up as much as you need to, or you can pull it back down, but make
sure once you get it in the right position you tighten this back up
because a lot of times especially if it's down on the bottom, this part will
slide down if it's not tight enough, and then every time you walk
it goes clink clink. so if that doesn't bother you, I guess that's fine it does
okay if it's not tight, but if it's tightened up it keeps that solid and so
it's nice in the solid spot and that little piece doesn't roll around. you
also want to have the cane on the opposite side of the injured leg or the
hurt leg. I've had a lot of comments from people saying, but I want to lean into it
so why don't I put it on the same side and walk like this, and and I need that
extra weight because if I do the other side it still hurts. canes are meant just
for balance. if you're having to shift all your weight onto the cane, you need
something more than a cane. then you probably need a walker or maybe some
crutches or a double cane kind of situation because if you're not just
using this for balance, then you're gonna throw your whole body posture off and
then you're gonna cause yourself other problems because if I walk like this. see
how I'm kind of leaning into it and I'm putting extra stress on my shoulder? my
shoulders gonna start hurting. I'm not walking properly because my arm is not
swinging how it's supposed to. the reason it goes on the opposite side is because
that's how we walk. when we walk normally, if my left leg goes forward my right leg
my right hand goes forward. so we're doing an opposite kind of swing. and we
don't walk, I don't even know if I can, walk like that. so we have that opposite
swing to keep us balanced and we want to do the same thing when we have a cane.
so every time the injured leg or the hurt leg goes forward, you want to take
that cane forward. again it's just there for balance. it's there to take a little
bit of pressure off. it's not to take complete weight off of that leg, and if
you feel like you're doing this and it's still hurting, then you probably need
something more. so then the next question is when do I need that cane? well when
you need the cane there's some great questions to ask, but before I go into
those questions that you want to ask yourself to answer them, let me tell you
a little bit about the Medi-cane. this is their foldable traveling cane. it's
really cool because as you saw in the beginning, it actually folds up and the
cool part about that is if you're going somewhere they'll say
you're going to an event and you don't want your cane sticking out in an aisle
or something, you can just fold it up and you put it in your pocket if you want to.
like this or you can put it in your purse or something like that. but it's
nice because this you can fold it up it stays out of the way and then when
you're ready, you just put it back out and then it's nice and stable. so it
pretty much locks itself out once you put it out, but I would check just to
make sure that everything's in place. it's also got a little holder so
sometimes people like to hang it up on things since it if it's a one prong
cain that won't stand up on its own, or just some people like having it
around their wrist, so if they are standing there and it tends to fall then
they don't have to reach down on the ground and pick it back up. so that's
really nice. some people keep it there and it's slidable as well so you can
have it higher or you can have it down low or whatever's more comfortable for
you. the handle is a wood handle so it's really nice and comfortable as well. it's
got a little curve in there just just sit the palm of your hand in there and
it's very nice and comfortable. you can see here that the stopper is nice as
well. and if you're interested in purchasing
the Medi-cane, click on the link up here. so the questions you might want to ask
yourself if you don't have a cane and you're like I don't know should I really
get a cane. question number one would be when I walk throughout the day does a
leg hurt do I have pain when I'm walking. and so the answer to that if it's yes
you might want to try using a cane. the next question would be do I feel safe
when I'm walking. if you walk a lot and you just feel like you know well
sometimes I'll just be a little drunk while I'm walking, you know I kind of
swerve a little bit and and stuff like that, you probably want a cane because
that might mean you have some balance issues. another good question to ask is
am I a Furniture Walker? when I'm at home, I have a lot of patients say well I do
fine at home because I know my couch is over here I can grab onto my couch, I've
got a hallway here where I know I can hang on to the wall, but once you get
into an environment where you don't know where you can hang on to,
then you have some issues, and then you might be at risk for falling. and then
the final question is you know just do I feel safe? do I feel comfortable? am I
afraid of falling? and if you are, then you probably really probably want to get
a cane. but the best thing to do would be to go for a physical therapy evaluation
and they can help you figure that out as well/ so just a couple good questions to
ask yourself if you need a cane or not, and then the final question I have
people ask me a lot if I just have a weakness in general and maybe both sides
are hurting, and they're about the same, ones not worse than the other, they both
just hurt, what side should I use the cane on. I usually then tell people if
you really can't say my left side is worse than my right, or my right sides
worse than my left, put the cane in your non-dominant hand, so then you have your
dominant hand free to do whatever you want. so if it's really not an issue of
this side's a little weaker than the other hurts a little more, just if you're
left-handed put it in your right hand. if you're
right-handed put it in your left hand, and then you have that other hand free
to do whatever you want to. so it's pretty simple as that. If you have any
questions, leave them in the comment section, if you're interested in
purchasing the cane, click on the link up here, and don't forget to subscribe by
clicking down here. and remember, be safe (don't fall), have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.