Getting a walking stick

Dr Milena Simec, physiotherapy lecturer     

People can buy canes from any pharmacy or online stores and one of the things that they should really do is seek a health professional  to get advice on how to use it to get the  right height adjusted and ideally it would be  great if they could see a physiotherapist who could advise them on the right technique on  how to get the best load reducing benefits.

Seeking professional help

Dr Milena Simec, physiotherapy lecturer     

 So one of the common problems is that people  don't seek health professionals they think  using a cane is simple and easy which it is but without the right advice a lot of  people tend to use it inappropriately which could be causing them more harm than good.

Practice makes perfect

Dr Milena Simec, physiotherapy lecturer     

As with any new skill, practice next perfect so, practicing using a walking cane is really important to get the correct coordination.  One of the beauties of using a walking cane is that it tends to encourage natural gait or natural walk and patterns, so people don't need to generally adjust their walking patterns. Most people find that they get  the correct coordination within only a few  minutes of practice but it's important that  they actually see a health professional to  check that their technique is correct it is  also good idea to speak to a family member or  get a family member to go to the appointment  with them so that they can monitor their  technique and when they're practicing at home.