problem

I was watching my grandmother use her walker and I noticed a number of problems she was having. I began watching other old people use their walkers and I also tracked down some physical therapists to talk to them about the proper ways to use a walker. What I realized is that walkers are not used correctly by most people; they are supposed to stand in them, but instead they lean into them.

ideation

I started brainstorming reasons why people used walkers incorrectly (I also found it wasn’t just old people who use walkers incorrectly). Possible reasons included:

• bad posture
• laziness
• want to see where the walker is going
• used to pushing things in front
• handle grip is wrong
• too confining and cage-like
• embarrassing to use “hospital equipment”

prototyping

So I got to work. I started prototyping different handle angles and I also sketched many different possibilities for less confining, easier to push, and more sporty walker profiles. The handle angle shown here significantly improved the posture of the people who used it.

After a while I also started prototyping some of the more sporty designs out of pcv pipe "tinker toys" just so I could see how the new shapes handled in turning corners and going through doorways.

From the more promising geometries and pvc prototypes, I made some structural prototypes which I could actually test on people and take to show physical therapists. I regret that I was unable to test them on any elderly users but I didn’t want to risk killing someone’s grandmother. However, I had noticed earlier that healthy people with good posture also used walkers incorrectly so I was able to test these prototypes on them.

The structural and geometric prototyping continued on for a while longer before I settled on a geometry and structure which was similar to this prototype. By this time, another consideration I had to design for was that the walker neede to fold so I could fit it in my car and take it places.

final

The final design has cleaner lines but incorporates much of design in the previous prototypes. It has angled handles which improve posture and which are adjustable to change the height. It has a more open design which is less confining and encourages people to stand in it like they are supposed to. It is also pitched forward a bit so it behaves more like any other object with handles that you would push around. It uses existing leg and wheel attachements and is made using current walker manufacturing techniques (tube bending and welding). And finally, it folds up so it can be stored or transported easily.