You may have heard of a knee scooter or even seen someone scooting around town on one of these devices but not really known what it’s use was for.
At first glance and depending on the age of the person using the knee scooter, if it happens to be a much younger person it may appear that they are simply having fun on some sort of toy like a razor scooter or a skateboard but this is hardly the case, in reality the person is typically injured! This is because the general appearance of the knee scooter is not like other rehabilitation devices. Under normal circumstances a knee scooter is used to be a replacement for devices such as crutches or wheelchairs, think of it as a combination between the two devices. But what are the advantages of a knee scooter?
For the most part the advantage of the knee scooter comes down to the type of injury that you have or your current physical condition. Here’s a scenario where you may find that a knee scooter is ideal for your injuries or where another rehabilitation device may be better.
First, let’s say that someone injured their knee during a weekend outing while playing soccer with their kids or with friends. If the injury is bad enough then they will not and should put any pressure on the knee in order to avoid further injury, give it time to heal, and speed up the amount of time that they will be injured altogether.
If the only part of their body that is injured is the knee then most likely knee scooter would not be the best decision for them because they would need to place their knee onto the cushion of the knee scooter which would be applying pressure and strain on it. So when someone mentions a knee scooter it shouldn’t be thought of as a device which helps with the rehabilitation of a knee injury.
Now let’s say that someone injured just their ankle while playing outdoors. If no other part of their body is injured then crutches could be used and most often is. On the other hand, let’s say that someone was injured in a car accident. They suffered an injury to their ankle and their upper body, like an arm or a shoulder.
This may be an ideal scenario for the use of a knee scooter to rehabilitate. Crutches would not be an option because you need to be able to support your body with your shoulders and arms. A wheelchair would work but may be a bit extreme in this case and would also cost you more money as well as make your other uninjured leg weaker since you would not be using it.
If you have injured a specific part of your leg and are unable to walk on it, but at the same time you have very weak upper body strength then crutches are simply not going to work for you as your upper body is primarily used for the overall movement. With a knee scooter you can simply rest your injured leg on the cushion and push off with the other foot as you glide around. There are a lot of different types of knee scooters, so it would be advisable to read the the knee scooter reviews first about the scooter you are interested in before buying it.
In some cases you may have one injured ankle and the other leg may not be strong enough to push off. In these cases knee scooters would not be ideal for the patient as you can cause more injury to the already weak leg. As with most medical situations it’s best to get your doctor or physical therapists advice as to what to use during your rehabilitation. In some cases they may have you use different rehabilitation devices at different levels of your body’s improvement.
