You put what on your crutches?

When life gives you lemons, throw them back and play Angry Birds!

As some of you may already know from other sites, I have recently been trying to figure out which type of crutches I should be using – axillary (underarm) or forearm. I am only two months into this round of broken leg related nonsense (seriously! Who would have thought a broken leg could cause so much trouble a decade later?), but I am already dealing with some crutch induced issues. Some of these issues include sore hands and calluses on my palms, stiff shoulder and back muscles, rough patches of skin along my rib cage where the crutches rub when I walk, and occasionally wrist pain. Clearly the underarm crutches I have been using are causing some problems. And I still have at least another six months on them to go… If this was just a regular plain old sprain or broken ankle I would suck it up and deal. I mean, I would be better in what? Six weeks, two months tops? But I am in this for the long haul, so toughing it out isn’t really an option.

The responses I have received have been really helpful. Some of you suggested things I had never considered. One person, for example, suggested doing whatever yoga moves I can with just my upper body/arms. I had started doing yoga in the summer but gave it up when I started to feel really sick with the bone infection and then got the dreaded PICC line. Continuing yoga with just my upper body will be a great way to help deal with some of the muscles stiffness. I am so fortunate to be part of several online communities that provide advice and support.

For now I have decided to stick with my underarm crutches despite the inherent problems. Although I would prefer to switch for forearm crutches, after hearing everyone’s replies to my questions and doing some research on the grand master of all knowledge that is Google I don’t think this is my best interest right now. While forearm crutches are supposed to be better for your posture, increase one’s agility, and eliminate the risk of nerve damage from supporting your body weight with your armpits, they lack the stability I need at this time. Being unable to put any weight on my right leg, the underarm crutches offer more stability and some added security in case I fall. I will still discuss the crutch issue with my orthopedic surgeon. Once I get my external fixator I should be able to bear some weight on my leg, so the forearm crutches might be a viable option again. But for now the underarm crutches are where it’s at.

Aside from considering the practical use of crutches, I have also been looking at crutches from an aesthetic viewpoint. Yes, that’s right; I am vain enough to think of my mobility aid, on which I am 100% reliant unless I don’t mind hoping everywhere or scooting around on my butt, in terms of style and fashion. We all know that crutches are boring. They are gray and drab and clunky and match pretty much nothing in your closet. They are meant to support your weight and get you from point A to point B and nothing more. So why should they be anything else then cold hard metal? They are an assistive device, not a fancy hat or five inch heels. On top of that, most people are only on them for a short time. As long as they do what they’re made for, that’s all that matters. But as previously said, I am in this for the long haul and I am trying to live as normal a life as possible despite the tibia-less mess I find myself in. I am also trying to make the best of a nasty situation in order to keep my spirits up. Because let’s be honest, saying that missing your tibia and external fixators are scary and unpleasant things is an understatement.

As a result, I have been looking at new crutches online. And I am not talking about your standard ‘you can buy them at the drugstore drab gray crutches’ either. I’m talking nice fancy ones in epoxy-coated colours. I have found two sites that offer crutches in various colours. If I had to choose, I would get them in red (link can be found here). The problem is, after I convert the currency to Canadian and add shipping and handling, the total is close to 100$. That is a lot of money just to add some colour to my sticks when my trusty old crutches which I have head for 9 ½ years are holding up just fine. It’s also a hard cost to justify when you aren’t working and are supported by your parents (nothing like bone infections to strip away your independence). So no fab sticks for me.

I did, however, have a cunning plan. Armed with nothing but my crutches and my debit card, I headed to the local dollar store. I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for, but I had a vague idea surrounding duct tape and stickers. And the dollar store did not disappoint! I found Angry Birds wall decals.

Once pack of stickers.

So the first achievement was actually finding something that I liked enough to stick to my crutches. The next hurdle would be seeing if they actually stuck to the crutches, and if they did stick, would they stay in place or peel off within several minutes. I did, for example, also buy snowflakes designed to go on a window. Although these where sticky enough, they were too thick to actually wrap around the crutches. I was pleased to see, however, that the angry bird stickers stuck to my crutches quite well. 

In order to try this project your self, you well need your trusty crutches, several packs of stickers (I used one pack per crutch, although the biggest angry birds where actually too big, and bought one extra pack in case things fall off over time), scissors, clear packing tape to over the stickers, and a ruler or sharp edge to smooth out the stickers/tape.

Here is one of my crutches before I began, in all its gray glory...

Please excuse the tape around the padded parts. I need to replace them as they do wear out after a while and fall off while you crutch along.

And a comparison between the two crutches once I had gotten one one done. Starting to look much better! I wasn't 100% convinced at first, but the more I got done, the better it looked.

Here are some shots of the crutches once I was done applying the stickers. I got creative with them, even adding some comic book style expletives. 

 

 

The final step was to cover everything in clear packing tape. Doing this will prevent any of the stickers from peeling off over time. Even just after applying the stickers, the ones that brushed against my sides as I walked started to peel at the edges. This is in part because the stickers are meant to be flat, so they bounce back a bit after you wrap them around the crutches. The tape will prevent this from happening, protect the stickers from the weather (rain, snow), and give everything a nice clean professional look. The entire project only too me a few hours. The most tedious and time consuming part was wrapping everything in packing tape, but that is worth doing so the stickers don't peel off.

The finished product! I am really pleased with how they turned out. It's as if I have custom designed crutches! Now when people ask what happened to my leg, I can point to my crutches and say I was attacked by angry birds XD And they were a lot cheaper than the nice red crutches I saw online. I had the scissors, packing tape and ruler lying around at home already so I only needed to buy the stickers (1.50$ each). 4.50$ was a lot more affordable than 100$. When life gives you lemons, throw them back and play angry birds!

 A note on the stickers: for best results, find stickers that do not have a white border around them. The angry birds stickers I used worked so well because the border around the stickers was clear, so you don't actually see the border, just the gray of the crutches underneath. This makes it actually look like their are angry bird on the crutches, instead of angry bird stickers.

Another note: Depending on he footwear I am wearing, I adjust my crutches between to different heights (5 2'" and 5 3"). As a result, I also adjust the hand grips. When you are decorating your crutches and then wrapping them in packing tape, it is important not to place any tape over the holes at the height level(s) you require. Instead, I carefully cut out small stripes of tape to go around them. This way my lovely angry birds are still protected in tape and I can still easily adjust my crutches when necessary.