"I had two bad hips, but at 48 years old they didn't want to replace them so they decided to re-form them. This involved drilling off pieces of the bone and repairing the labrum. Unfortunately with this surgery I had to be completely off each leg for two weeks and then two more weeks of just toe touching. I had the first surgery done in June and use traditional crutches for my recovery. I knew enough to not put the weight of my body on my underarms but still wore my sides sore with holding the crutches tight to my body. My hands and elbows got very sore within the first week. By two weeks I hated those crutches.
My second surgery was scheduled for October and I knew I wanted something different. I researched and foundsmartCRUTCHES. But, they weren't available yet in the U.S. so I contacted the manufacturer and asked them to let me know as soon as they were. Interestingly enough, two weeks before my surgery I injured my elbow, tennis elbow they called it. I also received my crutches before the surgery.
Fast forward to post surgery. I will admit the smartCRUTCHES have a learning curve to them. I was less steady and it require more arm/shoulder strength to use them vs. traditional crutches. I learned with practice and became more steady. At one point about a week after surgery I was a little frustrated so I switched back to the traditional crutches for a day. That was a huge mistake. Those crutches aggravated my tennis elbow so badly, it made it worse than it had ever been. When I switched back to the smartCRUTCHES there was no strain on my tennis elbow. I was so glad it allowed me to keep resting that elbow but allowed me to still be mobile.
I'm sold onsmartCRUTCHES. It took me about a week and a half of using them and playing around with the different angles to find what worked for me but they are great.
Thank you smartCRUTCH for making my recovery period much less painful."
David H, Indiana, USA
These lasted me 4 years of heavy everyday wear in all sorts of weather before something in the mechanism anchoring the spring gave out. I'm incredibly impressed! I'm very hard on my crutches and these flextips have more than stood up to the test. They are by far my favourite smartcrutch accessory!
It's about time someone made a pole for some of us bigger guys. I am big and tall and haven't been able to find walking poles that will handle my height and weight. These are perfect for me!
Very happy with the crutch although the additional padding provided for the forearm cuff does not stick very well even with using the 3m tape. I used doubles side tape. Hope it works.