But had a broken leg and two hips replaced.

I found crutches best for me. When standing they tuck nicely in my arm pits. It’s much easier carrying a purse on my crutch than with a cane.

Walker seemed to make me not stand up straight. Which in turn hurt my back.

Crutches also seem more temporary than a walker or cane.

You can get crutches for free at St Vinnies.

That’s my 2 cents. Currently worth very little.

good point about standing straight...I have MFM's old combo walker with a seat around here somewhere but it was too short and missing one of its brakes too, if I recall. I like the idea of having a handy seat but I suppose part of the whole point of doing this is so I can stand longer than 5 minutes anyway...

Dozens of different types but avoid ones with tiny wheels. Does allow taking a break on the seat as often as needed. Rollators and wheeled walkers can be dangerous and send you on a tumble if the wheels catch on bad concrete or pavement. Experienced that during an outing with a good friend that has serious hip and back problems.




One company makes a rollator with higher handles with gutter-like arm rests that allows shifting weight off your legs, but those are quite expensive......




Best of luck... .......

the amount of pavement near my house is pretty minuscule, unless you count the interstate.

for a knee and a hip. I've been trying a bunch of "conservative measures" in hopes of preventing surgery. I'm doing PT and I walk around (if you can call it that) with a cane or a walker in the meantime. They each have their advantages and disadvantages

Everytime somebody sees an xray they are kind of shocked I can walk at all. So far all my other joints are in pretty good shape, back goes wonky once in a while but I am sure it is just related to my gait, if you could call it that. They tried to train me on a cain when I did the PT, but I am such a doofus and so uncoordinated, I hated it. I suppose I ought to try to give it some real effort for a couple weeks and see if that would be a good solution, or if the crutches would be better. I don't like not having my hands free, why isn't there an antigravity suit yet?

Left in May, right in July. Same as you - the doctor said I was healthy enough to do them that close together.

If you can get a decent walker (try thrift shops or Craigslist) use that - the kind with the wheels are best. The cheapo ones provided at the hospital are flat out annoying.

My experience - it hurt less the day after the replacement than the day of. The day after a physical therapist came in and made me walk fifty feet. Same each day I was in the hospital, but longer each day.

I went to a rehabilitation hospital for nine days each time. If you qualify and your insurance will pay for it - DO IT! A Medicare approved rehab will give you two hours of PT a day, seven days a week, and an hour of "occupational" therapy which is great to prepare yourself for going home. It's also been great for me dealing with aging and my recovery from other operations.

The worst part was the damned machine they put my new knee into to bend it - an hour each day, not counted as PT. For some reason they did it in the middle of the night. Basically I wasn't getting any sleep, with my habit of staying up late, the machine from 4-5, blood drawn between 5-6 every morning and early morning rounds and breakfast between 6 and 7. For someone who sleeps best between 4 and noon, it was torture!

The rehab hospital gave everyone wheelchairs but you leave that at the door of the gym if you are a knee replacement patient. The first day in PT I climbed a short flight of stairs and they taught me how to use a cane.

When I got out, I went back to the same place for outpatient therapy. The first day I went back each time, they told me to NOT use the walker anymore. I wasn't using it for balance, just pushing it around. I still used it sometimes when shopping so people would give me space.

Two to three months after the second surgery I was doing great. My husband and I started going on hikes. Then my "breathing" problems showed up - I was treated for asthma and COPD. It took five years before someone finally heard the heart murmur that was eventually diagnosed as a stenotic aortic valve. That is an entire other chapter!

doubt my insurance would pay for a stay in rehab...and I kind of got traumatized by the local place when I had surgery on my right leg back in 2014.

What kind of walker did you use? I see above I am mixing up the terminology...walkers and rollators are different. I thought they were all walkers. OMG there are so many! https://justwalkers.com/collections/rolling-walkers

Talk to the patient advocate (or whatever they call it) at your hospital. Since I was obese, had asthma, and a second bad knee, she got me into the rehab hospital for the first knee. For the second knee, it was the same except it was so soon after getting the first knee replaced that put me over the edge as far as factors to get in.

The walker I have is a rollator - pretty fancy. My BIL bought the contents of a storage unit and that was inside so he sold it to me for cheap. I also have a tripod wheeled walker which is incredibly portable and folds almost flat. My sister found it at a thrift shop for $30. I like to take it when traveling since it is so small and the "basket" is in between the wheels so is better protected than the basket on a standard rolling walker.

The three wheel one looks like this:

https://www.1800wheelchair.com/product/gf-three-wheel-cruiser/

I wouldn't put much money into one since the chances are you won't need it long. Like I said, there are lots listed on Craigslist or showing up at thrift shops. Using crutches or a cane is not very good for me - I've had carpal tunnel surgery on both arms and I don't want to stress my wrists.

you didn't mention anything about pain. Do you have pain in the knee, because if you do, I have a suggestion that's inexpensive and it really works, too.

I haven't had knee surgery, but have arthritis in the knees.

for the most part I am either not in pain or just used to it, I guess. when there is a storm or low pressure I really feel it, but otherwise it is only when I stand for any length of time...that is painful.

my main complaint is lack of range of motion. I can't straighten my left knee all the way AND it is hard to break over - I can bend it but the start of that bend just does not work, so I walk stiff-legged like Frankenstein or something. Curbs and steps are especially difficult, in fact anything laying on the ground like a stone or garden hose, or a shoe (or a pet!) that needs to be stepped over just about can throw me to the ground. bumping my foot or toe is shocking and kind of painful to the knees, if I have to stomp my foot to get an ant off - that hurts. The left one also has a lot of what I learned are called "joint mice" so it makes a lot of noise and has horrible sensations of all those little chunks of whatever that move around in there.

those forearm crutches. I find them WAY easier to balance than underarm crutches. They seem easier to operate and give better control. I'm heading for knee replacements when I can take the time off, but for now I just have to hurt. Bone on bone. So fun!!

my bioarcheologist sister gave me the term...eburnation. look that up