Giving up the walking aids, like all other aspects of this recovery, varies for each of us.
After a couple of weeks I was able to give up the walker, and switched to a cane.
I didn’t use it around the house as much as I probably should have, but I did keep using it when I wasn’t home, for several months. My balance was off for a while after surgery and I just felt better with it, and used it even longer when I knew I’d be on uneven ground.
The cane is also really handy if you’ve been walking for a bit and get tired, it’s amazing how much it helps. I was 5 months post op when my son got married. The wedding was 90 minutes from where we lived, so we commuted a couple of times that weekend for wedding events. By the time I left the reception, I was really tired and in a lot of pain and was so glad to have my cane with me, just to get to the car! Yes, even at 5 months I had totally overdone it for several days, and the situations had required a lot of standing.
After a couple of weeks I was able to give up the walker, and switched to a cane.
I didn’t use it around the house as much as I probably should have, but I did keep using it when I wasn’t home, for several months. My balance was off for a while after surgery and I just felt better with it, and used it even longer when I knew I’d be on uneven ground.
The cane is also really handy if you’ve been walking for a bit and get tired, it’s amazing how much it helps. I was 5 months post op when my son got married. The wedding was 90 minutes from where we lived, so we commuted a couple of times that weekend for wedding events. By the time I left the reception, I was really tired and in a lot of pain and was so glad to have my cane with me, just to get to the car! Yes, even at 5 months I had totally overdone it for several days, and the situations had required a lot of standing.