joining us today we're going to go over choosing the right walker or rollator uh my name is kevin
brown i'm with allstar medical and we're going to start out with your most basic rollator
actually i should call this your walker this is your standard walker right here okay
has a 300 pound weight capacity it has buttons that are right here which you push down
and it gives you the ability to fold the device very small for easy transportation
you'll also notice on here that we have some adjustable legs you can adjust these up and down
and then they have five inch wheels on the front
these five inch wheels work really well inside the home and then you have what we call your glide
tips or glides on the back of this walker some of these walkers will actually come initially with
rubber stoppers that is not what you want on your walker they typically will be in the box where
you have glides if not there are glide skis that you can get from a medical supply store
this is also where tennis balls come in play their convenience item they're not any better
than glides i've had over 20 years experiencing this and not seen that tennis balls last any
longer than your glides it's just that you can grab tennis balls at a local sporting goods store
and maybe a little bit closer than the medical supply store is for you so not any reason or uh
to that tennis balls are better than glides it's just a convenience thing but this is your standard
one again 300 pound weight capacity most common one you see after you've had maybe a surgery or
an injury or something like that that you'll go home from from the hospital or something like that
so basically this is your standard rolling walker here okay next most common one uh that people
have a tendency like is your rolling walker with seat okay that's this item right here um
this is also known as a rollator okay and we call it either one i've even had
people call them a-frame walkers because it kind of looks like an a at this angle here
this has six inch wheels the front actually swivel so it makes it a lot easier to turn that can be
good or bad depending on what your need is it has wheel locks that you can squeeze the wheels here
and then it also has a wheel lock system where you push down okay when you push down that's
when you want to go to sit down into the device so this is great for long distances needing to
place the rest whether going to a doctor's office in a large area that may not have a place to sit
you know if you have some endurance issues breathing issues something like that this is
very handy this has height adjustable handles right here so you can adjust these handles
you take this knob you turn it and you can adjust these there's typically about five to six holes so
you can adjust the height to make sure that this is in the proper the handles are actually in the
proper height typically you're going to be between the hip bone and the wrist bone when you do this
seat opens up has a pouch underneath most companies are making them with pouches now versus
wire baskets because if you don't have anything in the pouch you can still fold it up but with a wire
basket you have to take it out they tend to get lost things like that so most of the manufacturers
have went to a pouch you pull up and this will fold your backrest piece right here can fold up
and then that's about the width when it comes to putting in trunk of a car these weigh anywhere
between probably 16 and 20 pounds depending on the manufacturer and the brand they're a very common
item that you'll see out there um so there's not a lot of difference most people are shopping this
for price um really we'll get into a couple of them later on here in a minute that have a couple
different options and that's where price can vary as well one of the most popular ones that we do
is this height adjustable roll later and so as you'll kind of see here very looks very similar
still got the a-frame style everything like that but you'll notice that there is a padded backrest
okay this is really thick so when you go and put your wheel locks on and go sit down you'll notice
that it's padded it hits you a little higher in the back in most cases and it's larger so you've
got more contact area for when you're resting and things like that people have a tendency to
like this pad more than they do the bar the bar is padded but this just gives you a little bit
more added support one of the nice features about this one is you can adjust the handles
just by pulling them up or down with a little push pin here you can also do that
on the legs so what makes this one so much different is you have eight inch wheels
you have some reflectors on the side for outdoor use things like that but you can also adjust
the seat to floor height where with the previous version you cannot adjust the seat to floor height
so we always recommend your feet being able to touch
with a rollator when you are seated some of these don't give you that option
but this one does you can adjust it up and down typically it's about a four
inch adjustment that you can do so again really a nice piece of equipment and that's where you
start noticing a little bit difference in price um on some of these models that we'll get into
the next one has really taken off in the last few years it's called the euro style rotator
you'll notice the large front 10 inch wheels
and then 8 inch wheels in the back it's got a little bit of a sleek design
you get noticed when you have something like this people uh really it's a kind of an eye
catcher people like this you still have your wheel locks that you can push down you do have the pad
that's back here you have the adjustable handles that can go up or down but you don't have the
ability to adjust the seat you have a pouch in the front that you can put things in that works
really easy just a little zipper pouch and then as far as pulling it up take this little device
and fold it up just like that so it's very compact again these weigh between about 19 and 22 pounds
so a little bit heavier but really not that much difference when you look at it
the design though is to have these bigger wheels which do a little bit better in outdoor areas
so that's the euro style rollator that we have um the next item that i'll go into is your heavy duty
or your bariatric relator really this is no different than the second or third version i
showed it's just larger okay this has a 400 pound weight capacity uh you'll notice that it has a
larger seat i've still got that other one right here so you kind of get the idea of the difference
in the seat width compared to the one in front it's also got more room between the frame as
well so if you're a little larger in the hips this one can come in handy you have the ability
to adjust the handles just like this one but you don't have an adjustment anywhere else on this so
they do make these 400 500 pound weight capacities um you know you have a little bit larger wheel too
i think this is an eight inch wheel um that you have everything else is is exactly the
same nice feature a nice um device if you need it you know for the size reason
some of the uh newest items that are out on the market today are the um upright walkers
and uh up walker you've probably seen the versions i'm going to show right here
on tv advertisements this is the device right here you probably have seen on tv
what's nice about it this gives you the ability to stand upright while you're using your rollator
sometimes people have a tendency to lean over because the handles you know don't push up
and you have some back issues so you're leaning this way this gets you a little bit more upright
you have your handles your wheel locks here so you can squeeze here and you can also push
um another nice feature is you can adjust these up and down pretty easy i tell people when you
go to sit down in this device that that is one thing that you need to think about is
if you're very wide in the shoulders you want to go ahead and push these down
so you have a place to put your arms okay if you don't do that you kind of
feel like squished in another feature that this has you'll see these handles where my
hands are right here okay what's nice about that is it gives me a place to push up from
so that's what this item offers it's really nice these also will have a pouch in the front
this pouch right here in the front take the handle here pop it up
it's very compact and easy to transport also comes with a cup holder so you can have a
drink which you can put in there so again very nice features and benefits on this up walker
this is a copycat industry this is a version of an up right walker this is the upright walker
adventure dlx i believe is the model here again you're able to adjust the height right here
for the handles you can adjust these armrests in and out with this knob here and then this also has
a place for the um backrest or to actually lock these handles in right here you can adjust this
and take this off if you choose to all you have to do is take it off um still have your seat
it will still fold up but you do have to take that handle off it's got the pouch in the front
300 pound weight capacity these weigh around 23 pounds so nice feature if you're looking for
something that you need a little bit more uh work with your posture when you're walking around stuff
that you need to consider one of the other brands that a lot of people don't realize are out there
is this version here and i've got it folded up so you can kind of see it from this angle
okay this is a translator it's a combination of a transport chair and a rotator in one
okay so when i go to push down basically i've got it set up initially as a rollator
okay i can use it to walk around just like a rollator i can sit do everything that i need to in
this position just like a roller what's nice about this that is you get to a point where you're going
i i can't walk anymore i'm tired even the seat is not helping me anymore i need something else
this is where this comes in you flip this you'll notice right here that i can pop
leg rests that are detachable they pop around but they also hook on the side on this version
come around and i can sit in this like a wheelchair or a transport chair and then i can
have somebody push me from behind while i sit so it's like taking two items putting them together
less trunk space you have to worry about because you're carrying one device versus two devices
uh in a vehicle again very handy these leg rests are detachable they're 300
pound weight capacity they have some adjustability but they're a very nice
uh feature again you have a pouch you can put the leg rest in or other items that you may need
but what i always like to talk about on these walkers are people asking which one works for
me okay so that all depends on the individual and what i mean by that is are you using it for
endurance or are we using it for balance what is the reason sometimes it's a combination of things
this is where you need to talk to your physician talk to your physical therapist
and and let them help you decide what's the best device for you okay with your standard rolling
walker here these wheels do not change they're they're they're going straight forward so turning
side to side means you physically have to pick this up or move it okay where as with a rollator
rolling walker with seat they have swivel wheels so this can easily go side to side
with no problem that can be good or bad so keep that in mind that may be a great thing that maybe
it's too too much for you too fast so those are some factors to keep in insurance typically will
cover a rolling walker what i like to tell people about that though is you have to ask
the right questions okay rolling walkers are reimbursing around 50 something dollars okay
and if a doctor writes you an order that's great but that doesn't mean anything you have
to show the documentation behind it because the doctor has no say in whether it's paid for or
not they can help and give all the information they need out for a walker or whatever medical
equipment there is but and the end result the insurance dictates whether it's covered or not
so they typically will cover a rolling walker but they're going to cover the most basic thing
what you find is a lot of these you'll find that you can get a steel version of this rollator
they pay a rolling walker and then they pay for a seat with the rolling walker in a seat
i think the reimbursement's around 75 it depends on state depends on the insurance plans there's
a lot of different things medicare all that kind of stuff depending on what plan you're on
so there's different variations but when you start getting into larger ones like this
you know or the upright walkers or anything like that what you run across is the reimbursement is
not even close to even covering cost of what the item is you know some of these items are
two and three hundred dollars can be um one of the up walkers is up to six hundred dollars
so the insurance is not gonna cover that uh it's not um able to cover because it doesn't you know
their reimbursement doesn't cover it um so you won't get that under insurance and a lot of
this will be cash purposes and or cash payment i should say so just keep that in mind when you're
doing things like this i think it will hopefully be helpful for you talk to your doctor talk to
your insurance company and the biggest question i can tell you to ask them is ask them do you cover
it which most all of them are going to tell you yes but ask them what is the medical criteria for
the rolling walker or rolling walker with seat what is that criteria
to get covered so you know what you need to talk to your physician about in order to get something
you know qualified for insurance i hope this was helpful we're trying to do all sorts of videos
that we're giving you education and talking about you can get most all these devices on
our website at allstar medical llc please don't forget to subscribe to our page as
we're constantly putting new information on here our website is all-star all-starmedicallc.com
and you can also call us with any questions at 615-730-9438 thanks and have a great day