I know this isn't the greatest picture (and I hope the gentleman in it doesn't mind getting totally famous from appearing on my blog), but it was taken on the sly from across a métro car. I was looking at the crutches. This question has actually lain unanswered for over 15 years--a friend and I discussed it the year I spent in Brittany--and so I present it to you. It seems that French people use for a broken ankle, for instance, the sort of crutches that people use in the U.S. for a longer-term crutched tenure--the kind that fit loosely around the arm, and have a handle in the middle. But for these shorter-term injuries, Americans generally use the loosely triangular kind, with one pad under the armpit and one to grab below. So the question is:If one of these is better than the other (and I imagine it is, although I don't know which), why doesn't everybody use it?
I don't know which is better, but people in Spain use the same ones and I just assumed they were all disabled. I think the ones under your arms (US traditional triandles) are probably better because it's less stress on the elbows?
ReplyDeleteNo, no, no, those US crutches are pure torture. Ow, ow, ow in the underarms. In France, one cannot buy underarm crutches; in the US they all looked enviously upon my "super turbo" French ones (the mid-arm type.) By the way... the French call them "cannes anglaises". So ask people who have something to do with it in the US why they don't sell the mid-arm ones? Which - I repeat - are VASTLY superior, furnishing both stability and comfort.
ReplyDeleteP.S., Miss Kir, you KNEW you'd get me going on the kruch kweschun!!
ReplyDeleteBesides - last post, I promise - if you assumed that "really" disabled people used the mid-arm kind, that should have answered your question anyway. If someone who spends ALL her/his time on crutches chooses one particular model, shouldn't we all sit up and take notice - and choose the same one, even for temporary purposes? Voilà, I'll shut up now.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding?? Don't shut up a bit; I love the feedback!
ReplyDeleteI used those crappy American crutches for 4 months! If only I had known there was a better option.
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