remetheus

i bought a cane last year. in retrospect i wish i had had a cane around when i was 15 years old. hear me out. there are many reasons to love cane. Here's some times canes help me. maybe u want one too! (pls be careful tho if u get one u gotta learn how to use it right so u dont hurt yrself with it)

• ever pull a muscle or stub your toe real bad and now putting weight on that foot hurts? you'll be very happy that you already have a cane to help take some of the weight off.

• filled with dread any time you need to lean/squat down to clean items up off the floor? cane makes this way easier, because now your arm muscles can help lower you down and push you back up. this is why i vacuum with any regularity instead of declaring floor bankruptcy.

• frequently feel the need to sit down while standing in line? cane makes it easier to stand longer without feeling this, also makes it easier to sit down and get back up if you need to.

• seriously, sitting down and getting up from sitting is so much easier with a cane

• have trouble climbing stairs? cane in one hand, railing in the other hand, now you are dual-wielding climbing assistance

• getting in/out of cars a struggle? cane helped me.

• good for climbing hills

• good for descending hills

• scared of falling down on an escalator? cane helps.

• have trouble getting on and off a bus when its high up from the ground? cane can help you gradually lower yourself to reduce the work your knees put in. same thing for curbs without curb cuts

• if u need it, now u can sit in the front of the bus without people looking at u funny because lmao it turns out that visually indicating a disability is way more effective than telling people that many disabilities are invisible unfortunately.

• do u lose your balance a lot? cane is very good for regaining balance, or not losing it in the first places. good for progesterone dizzy spells!

• its a stim toy tbh

• u can put stickers on your cane like putting stickers on a laptop

if yr worried about social impact, my experience has been that people i already knew asked me "what happened" when i first got it and i just said i got it to help me get around and then they didnt care. i have never had a stranger ask me why i have a cane. most people dont rly seem to notice or care.

fyi the most natural way to walk with a cane tends to be to move it forward with the arm opposite the leg you're moving forward. so if its in your right hand, you move your right hand and your left leg together. then you move your right leg on its own. you can switch hands! i do this constantly. it takes practice. practice with yr cane.

u also gotta dial the height of the cane in properly or it can mess yr posture up. seriously, take some time on that one.

canes are based

If you're thinking about getting a cane, definitely consult with a doctor or physical therapist about things like having the right height adjustmenst, grip, technique, etc. because you can actually injure youself/make a lot of chronic pain and health conditions worse by using a cane wrong or even too often (depending on the condition).

When I first started using a cane, my chronic pain actually got waaaaay more severe over the course of the first eight months and I had thought it was because my condition was worsening on its own when actually I was making it worse by walking with a cane wrong. I had it adjusted in a way that felt intuitive but actually was apparently way too high and in general I had just kinda assumed I'd know how to use it and I did not.

I learned that I had had the height adjusted wrong and was gripping it wrong, was putting weight on it wrong, walking with it wrong, and treating its purpose as an aid wrong, and due to some complicated shit with how joints work, that was just throwing everything off in a way where most of my chronic pain at that point was actually being caused by the way I was walking using the cane. So I stopped using the cane for a while and it was really fucking painful and difficult and I was like "I can't do this I can't" but then a week or two later like 90% of my pain cleared up and I got back to where I was when I had originally started using the cane, which is to say still in a good deal of pain every day such that I'd want to try using a cane but like only a tenth as much as before, and when I stopped walking in fucking unsupportive Doc Martens everywhere that cleared up a good deal enough that I could tolerate it.

A few years later my chronic pain got really severe again, much worse than ever, so I got the cane back out but I consulted with a doctor and a physical therapist early on and they were like "First off, you're doing this completely wrong," and they adjusted the height and position in a way totally unintuitive to me that ended up being what was correct. And they explained that how you use a cane is gonna be really specific to what's causing you issues and you need to best adjust it to match that specific situation or else you can make things worse by putting weight and strain in weird places. For my specific situation, of generalized hypermobile joints, they kinda emphasized that since my problem isn't assymetrical I really shouldn't use an assymetrical solution like a cane for it every day unless it's a really really bad day and I absolutely have to, cuz the cane isn't really taking any strain off my legs so much as shifting all the strain from one leg onto my shoulder, which is also hypermobile, so the pain wouldn't go away just shift. Also that I shouldn't use it on the same side every time or I'd just be taking strain off one leg and doubling it on the other leg with is just as bad a leg.

They ended up suggesting I just get really good supportive orthopaedic sneakers with insoles and it worked a lot better than the cane for daily support for my specific condition¹. I still have the cane and every so often I have flares of really bad pain where the choice is using the cane or not standing or walking at all. But I've learned that for whatever it is I have, the cane is an emergency measure and not a daily driver. If I use the cane for a week straight, my chronic pain gets noticably more severe, even after the adjustments for height and position.

Anyway this isn't to say "don't use a cane" because that would be hypocritical since i do use a cane, but rather to not be like me and assume you know how to use it without injuring yourself and don't start using it every day without talking to an expert about getting it adjusted right and when/how to use it for your specific condition that's making it necessary to use a cane. It's not one size fits all.

1. in addition to 1.5 years of physical therapy, lifestyle changes, and medication changes.

Canadian RMT chiming in here - yeah, the OP is good if your MD or physio or OT or whatever has already suggested a cane and you're feeling hesitant or weird about it, but if you're just feeling like "huh, I wonder if I need a cane" PLEASE consult with a doctor or physical therapist first because a badly-fitted cane or a cane that's being used improperly can absolutely fuck your whole situation up (a professional will also be able to tell you if a cane is even the right mobility aid for you).

FYI (do not take this as a substitute for having your cane fitted by a professional), a good cane height will GENERALLY be a little bit higher than waist-height (depending on arm length) so that you can put your weight on it with a straight arm without needing to place a lateral bend in your spine.

And (again, NOT a substitute for being shown how to walk with a cane by a professional), proper cane technique is to use it to support whichever leg is weak/injured/painful/whatever when your weight is being put on it. So, if your right leg is injured, you would have your cane planted with your weight on it on the RIGHT side while your left leg is swinging, then swinging both your right leg and the cane while your left leg is planted.

Canes (and all mobility aids) are terrific and if you've been told you need one and have been shown how to use it you should absolutely go for it, but please don't mess around with your gait without cause because it can seriously be very unpleasant and bad for you.