Biomechanical Evaluation of Crutch Design Variations

The purpose of the study is to evaluate variations in the forces and moments applied to both the axillary (armpit) pad and handgrip of standard axillary crutches. The modified axillary pad was tapered in the front rather than symmetric and the modified handgrip was angled to about 17° rather than horizontal. The crutches used could be fitted with the standard or novel versions of both the axillary pad and handgrip, permitting four different crutch configurations. Using a six-axis load cell built into one of the crutches, forces and centers of pressure were calculated at both the axillary pad and the handgrip for each configuration in ten subjects. The only significant difference found was in the location of the handgrip forces. The center of pressure on the modified handgrip was more central that the location on the standard handgrip suggesting a more uniform force distribution.