Hi guys! In this video, I'm going to demonstrate how to use crutches properly.
So, I'll first show you how to adjust them that they’re the correct height.
Then I'll teach you the normal gait pattern or how we normally walk, so that you can apply that
when you walk with crutches even if you're not allowed to put any weight through it, because when
you … Most of the time when people give you crutches, it’s to take some of the weight off,
or take all of the weight off. But if you can do what we call “shadow walking”, that you're
pretending to use a normal gait pattern, it's much easier to get back to walking afterwards.
Then I'll show you the optimal way to use two crutches at a time. And then lastly,
if you're down to just one crutch, how to use that effectively. So, for those of you who
don't know me, my name is Maryke. I'm one of the physiotherapists from sports-injury-physio.com,
where you can get online physiotherapy assessment as well as treatment for your injuries.
Have a look at the description of this video if you want a link to our website. Excellent! Let's
jump right in. Okay, so when we measure crutches, we want them to be at a length that we don't stand
awkwardly. Like this one is definitely too high, because it's going to force my shoulders up.
What you do is, you stand up nice and straight and you have the crutch next to you, so, kind of where
your heel ... in line with your heel, and you just allow this hand to hang free beside you. And you
want, here where the knobbly bit of your wrist is, where your thumb attaches into your wrist kind of,
that has to be in line with the top of the crutch. So, this was definitely too high for me. So,
I'm going to adjust, that … This is just a rough guide by the way, because I usually
do that and then afterwards I see how my patient looks and feels, and then we adjust
it a little bit more. So that now looks better for me. Now, you will also see that
this bit of the crutch is too high, because it's going to press on my elbow. So,
that will cause me pain with a compression of my elbow there. So, I've got to make this bit
a bit shorter, and I'm going to take it down two, actually,
so that it's roughly two-thirds of my arm. So now I'm missing the bony bits;
I'm pressing into that bit if I'm going to put the pressure through it, so that won't be painful.
So, let's just set the other one to the same measurements
and then we properly test them. So, this one goes all the way down ... And to adjust them, you just
press the little button thingies. You press them in and you hold them in and then you slide
them up to where you want, and just find it again. There we go! Okay, so let’s try try
both of them out. Now, you'll notice that I'm doing it without my shoes on at the moment. So,
if you're going to wear shoes when you use your crutches, you've got to do it with your shoes on,
because otherwise your height will change again. Now, for me these feel a bit high, because you
can see my shoulders are still hunching up. So, I will actually go and shorten them one
each ... full. So, this is honestly not an exact science; you have to just end up with
a good posture once you've adjusted them. So, let's see … Yes, that feels better! I now feel
as if I can put my weight through them, and you can see, my shoulders are no longer hunched up.
So, what do I mean with a normal walking pattern or gait pattern? Basically, when we walk, we
place our heel down first, then we roll over the … put the weight through the foot,
and then you roll over the front and the toes come off. Show you this way around. So, you'll
put your heel down first, you transfer your weight through your foot so it naturally rolls forward,
and the last thing is the toe comes off. That is a normal walking pattern for a foot to have.
And yes, there are finer things of, it turns in a bit, turns out a bit, but basics with crutch walk
is, you want to mimic that normal pattern of just rolling through the foot, because it will help you
get back to normal walking more quickly if you can do it while you're on crutches already. When
you use crutches, you should try and walk with a normal gait pattern. So, what I mean with that is,
you put your heel down first when you walk, and then you roll over your foot and lastly your toes
come off. Now, the whole idea of the crutches is that they take some of the weight off your injured
leg. So, if we think of non-weight bearing walking. So, you're not allowed to put any
weight through your leg, you can still shadow walk. So, you can pretend that you're walking.
So, you always put your crutches down first, and they go with the injured leg. And you place your
heel – it's just touching; if you had a fly under your heel, you would not be squashing it – and
then you put all your weight through your arms. It looks as if I'm putting weight on my foot,
but I'm not; I'm just … Again, if there was a fly under there it would still be alive.
And then you come through, put your other leg down, and you roll off,
but no weight has gone through my leg. So, to show you this from the front:
You put your crutches and your injured foot down and you roll over as you come forwards,
and you step through, but you don't put any weight through or any weight on it. So, there we go!
Pretend you're putting weight through it, but you're not really putting weight through it.
There we go! That's called “shadow walking” because you're pretending to do the action of
walking but it's not taking any weight. And if you can do that from the start, even if you've
got a cast or something on, that you pretend you're going through it, it just makes it much
easier to get back to normal walking once you are allowed to put some weight through it. Now, if you
can do partial weight bearing – so, that means you can take some of your weight through your leg but
you can't take all your weight through your leg – again, you want to do the normal walking action,
which means that your leg ... or your crutches go forwards first, then your leg, but you're putting
your heel down, of your injured leg, and you're putting some weight through it, taking some of the
weight through the crutches, but you roll over it and come off. So, if you want to make it quicker,
you can put them together down. So, injured, and with the crutches. There we go! But you're rolling
through. To show you this from the front: Left leg's injured, it goes forwards with my crutches,
and I'm rolling through, I'm getting as normal as possible walking pattern. It's really,
really important to not hop around unless you have to, unless the doctor said you have to hop around,
because if you can get your brain used to the normal walking pattern and use the leg in as
normal as possible way, your recovery will be more quick, or quicker, I think, is the term. Now, for
some injuries, you don't need to use two crutches, you can get away with just using one crutch.
Try to use it in the opposite hand, because remember, when we walk normally, your hand,
your opposite hand and leg go together. So, we don't walk like this when we walk. So, what you
want to be doing is, you want to put the crutch together with the injured leg forwards, and then
you come through with other one, okay? So, crutch goes with the injured leg. And remember, you want
a normal walking pattern. So, that means you're placing your heel down, rolling over the foot,
and coming off on the toe. Show you that from the side: Crutch goes with the injured leg, down
and over. Now, I have had patients in the past that just couldn't walk that way; they could not
keep the crutch on the other side. You know what? If you can't do it and you're really unstable, do
it the other way around; do it in any way that you can do it. It's not ideal, but it's better than
looking as if you're going to fall over. So, say for instance, my left leg is still my injured leg
and I couldn't get on with that, then you can do it like this, that you take it on there.
But you can see, immediately it's a much more laboured gait, and it's really not ideal. But
if you can't get on with it in the opposite hand, this is better than nothing, okay?