People who need walkers are often reluctant to start using them because of stigma. A Colorado researcher has designed a walker she says has more appeal.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Older people often struggle with their balance. A walker can help, but some adults refuse to use them because of how it makes them look. Colorado Public Radio’s Nell London reports on efforts to give walkers a makeover.
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NELL LONDON, BYLINE: Bob Baron cruises down the hall to his office in suburban Denver, pushing a metal walker. Green tennis balls on its legs glide along the carpet.
BOB BARON: As you can see, I’m walking full speed.
LONDON: Baron broke a hip last spring, which landed him in a wheelchair. Then he graduated to a walker. At age 91, he still works five days a week at the publishing company he founded. Today, he’s editing letters between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
BARON: This is from Jefferson to John Adams.
(Reading) I can walk but little, but I ride 6 or 8 miles a day without fatigue.
LONDON: It’s for a book about the two presidents’ accomplishments late in life.
BARON: I have so much joy in looking at the writers of the past and the writers of the present that the fact that I hobble a little bit to get to my chair is immaterial.
LONDON: Not everyone is so accepting as they lose their mobility, says Thomas Johnson, a geriatrician at the University of Colorado.
THOMAS JOHNSON: We know that when a patient has a fall, it’s – somewhere around 50% of these patients don’t tell their doctor after. I suspect part of it is that they don’t want to have to do any of these interventions, including, you know, using a walker, using a cane – those assisted devices.
LONDON: That makes them likely to fall again. Falls account for $80 billion in medical expenses and are the leading cause of injury-related deaths in older adults. So how do you get people to buy in to using a walker? Maybe you make a walker that’s cool.
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LONDON: A mountain-bike-style tire squeaks on the floor of an innovation lab at CU, but it’s on a three-wheeled off-road walker with handlebar brakes painted hot lavender.
CATHY BODINE: And what’s cool about it is it can not only walk on mountain trails. It can also be on a beach if that’s what you would need at some point, or just out and about on your ranch or farm.
LONDON: Cathy Bodine runs the Center for Innovative Design and Engineering, which develops products for people with disabilities. In addition to the all-terrain model, the lab has an everyday walker in the works – one that’s adjustable and can fold into the back seat of a car. An Italian design firm added aeronautic-style wheels and handles with stitched leather. Bodine has taken to calling it the sexy walker.
BODINE: When you say, hey, would you like this, or would you like a sexy walker? You know, the interest level goes right through the roof, you know? And I always joke – one thing I learned is third grade never dies. People want to look good. They want to feel good.
LONDON: Dr. Johnson, who consulted on the project, says looks are not frivolous. A walker people like is one they’ll use.
JOHNSON: Overall, my hope is that through this project, we can help people get moving. And movement is medicine. And if we can get more people out into their communities in a safe way, that can help with loneliness. That can help with isolation. That can help them increase their strength – all these things.
LONDON: Bob Baron, the publisher, says he’s gotten stronger using a walker. Soon, he hopes to move to a cane.
BARON: In your life, a lot of things happen. But you should not let changes in your life – physical changes – affect what you’re doing.
LONDON: The innovation lab hopes to have the sexy walker on the market by 2027.
For NPR News, I’m Nell London in Denver.
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