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Let’s bring back staves as mobility aids.

I’d been a cane user (mainly for chronic leg pain) with a certain need for more support and with shoulder issues. Ideally I’ve dreamt of a powerchair, but while I can’t have that I’d been planning to get forearm crutches.

Then I began making a staff for cosplay, and found out that it is actually much better for me than a cane.

I am still planning to try forearm crutches, but it’s in less priority for me now.

The staff both gives me more support than the cane and puts much less pressure on my shoulders.

I wish I could use it outside of home too. Perhaps I will once it’s fully done, of course ideally I should not care about people’s reactions to me carrying a bigger stick than is conventional but, yeah.

Characteristics:

My staff’s base is a metal pipe, wrapped in some kind of plastic, from a drape runner. It’s 25 mm in diameter and 180 cm in height. A cane tip is pushed into the bottom. (Later it will be decorated: a foam clay dragon claw at the top holding a ball with an LED light, and painted)

I am 155 cm tall. I am most comfortable holding it on the height around the shoulder level. Sometimes I hold it with both hands. I am uncomfortable holding it at around waist level.

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Let’s bring back staves as mobility aids.

I’d been a cane user (mainly for chronic leg pain) with a certain need for more support and with shoulder issues. Ideally I’ve dreamt of a powerchair, but while I can’t have that I’d been planning to get forearm crutches.

Then I began making a staff for cosplay, and found out that it is actually much better for me than a cane.

I am still planning to try forearm crutches, but it’s in less priority for me now.

The staff both gives me more support than the cane and puts *much* less pressure on my shoulders.

I wish I could use it outside of home too. Perhaps I will once it’s fully done, of course ideally I should not care about people’s reactions to me carrying a bigger stick than is conventional but, yeah.

Characteristics:

My staff’s base is a metal pipe from a drape runner, wrapped in some kind of plastic. It’s 25 mm in diameter and 180 cm in height. A cane tip is pushed into the bottom. (Later it will be decorated: a foam clay dragon claw at the top holding a ball with an LED light, and painted)

I am 155 cm tall. I am most comfortable holding it on the height around the shoulder level. Sometimes I hold it with both hands. I am uncomfortable holding it at around waist level.

Today's mobility aid update: apparently, I am now a Full Time Wizard Staff User.

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Tl;dr: I'm a cane user who needs more support and has shoulder problems, I am beginning a cosplay of a dnd wizard, and turns out that apparently a staff is better for me than a cane.

(still planning to try forearm crutches and would like a powerchair eventually but well, I'll compare all those too. And for now, I have my staff.)

& also, the wizard I'm cosplaying, Raistlin Majere from Dragonlance, is canonically very disabled and uses his staff as a mobility aid.

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Backstory: https://www.tumblr.com/dyspunktional-revan/717836384898023424, also some follow-up https://www.tumblr.com/dyspunktional-revan/719407235725492224 (I did try two canes and it was *horrible* on my shoulders).

And now I've been planning a cosplay of Raistlin Majere (who, by the way, canonically uses his staff as a mobility aid!! A young mobility aid user (25 in the first book (Dragonlance series), had to use a mobility aid since 21)! A disabled magic-user who is disabled not because he is magic-user (has been disabled all his life, an event that disabled him much more at 21 was related to magic but the disabilities themselves were not magical — his body was just severely weakened and broke down more; and *couldn't be healed* for magical reasons but not from magical afflictions)! And more and more and more I love Raistlin so much).

There had been several things at home that could go for the staff's pole but they all needed work and weren't very handy to walk with. But now I got a new one — a drape runner that wasn't holding in the wall and had to be taken off; and — this particular one was already an appropriate length. And empty inside, and thin and firm enough at the same time thanks to being metal (wrapped in some kind of plastic). I still had to give it some tip to stand on, and it wasn't even cut straight. It's 25mm and the standard cane tip is made for 20mm.

And then my mother had a genius idea. She took an old cane tip, and *shoved it in*. And it holds perfectly.

Now to the mobility aid part!

So, now I have a proto-staff I can actually walk with, and at first I felt like my cane was mostly better. But then I wanted to stand up and my legs hurt really bad, I took my cane at first but then I decided to take the staff instead — it can offer more support, especially if I hold it with both hands.

After a while, I put it down and took my cane — and realized that the staff was actually better. My shoulder instantly felt much worse. Idk about the rest because I just put down the cane and took up the staff again, and had been using it for the rest of the day.

I'll probably still need to use a more conventional mobility aid outside (when not in costume)... For one thing, I don't think anyone's going to offer a bus seat to a guy with a wizard staff rather than a cane or a crutch (eh. Also that applies to when in costume too, thought about that long before I'd thought of actually using the staff as a mobility aid outside of cosplay).

Although perhaps btw I could, like, try to ask, hey I have leg problems, I actually use a cane when not cosplaying, could you please,, Idk.

As I said in tl;dr, I'm still planning to try other mobility aids, planning to buy at least one forearm crutch as soon as I can go out (currently ill). I'll compare that and the staff too, might alternate like folx do alternate their conventional mobility aids? And eventually I would like a powerchair, don't know if it can ever become possible for me.

"Why do cane users threaten violence so much" have you tried carrying a big metal stick around all the time /lh

Do not call my chronic migraines and other chronic pain physical disabilities if you are not also going to call my ADHD and bipolar physical disabilities.

Do not call my ADHD and bipolar neurodivergence and neurological disabilities if you are not also going to call my chronic migraines a neurodivergence, and that and other chronic pain neurological disabilities.

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Edit: do not call me neurodivergent at all. I’m a full-bodymind crip, including being disabled and insane and overlap of these. No divisions.

Tried forearm crutches for a few steps today while at a medical shop for getting a new cane tip, it felt quite weird, but after I put them away I realized how much load they have taken off my legs. I felt perhaps the same way the first time I tried a cane, this time perhaps even more intensely.

Under my mobility aid advice request one person said the forearm crutches were worse for their shoulders then two canes and another said they were better, I still haven't tried walking with two canes and should probably do it (perfect time, as I'm replacing the tip of my outdoor cane, so I can try it indoors with both canes rather than outdoors and washing my indoor cane after); I haven't noticed any load on the shoulders with the crutches today but we'll yeah those were just a few steps. I do kinda feel tho like crutches would be better than two canes; again, I'll try it. But I think I want forearm crutches now.

The assistant also said that the least load on the shoulders would be underarm crutches but I really don't think those would be comfortable. My mom also told me she had a very bad experience with them when she had a broken leg.

I miss the feeling of those crutches (that I have tried today) now.

Mobility aid advice wanted.

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Tl;dr: chronic pain in both legs, currently a cane user but supporting one side is not always enough, also have chronic pain in both shoulders and can’t put work on them.

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I have chronic pain in both my knee areas, plus some other weird leg stuff.

I currently use a cane, alternating between which side currently hurts more. But sometimes they both hurt too strongly, and sometimes I even actually have to put more weight on the leg that currently hurts more because something else makes walking with more weight on the leg that currently hurts less harder.

I also have chronic pain in both of my shoulders. I can’t use the grater, for example, recently stopped cutting vegetables for food prep too because pain. So I’ve known for many years that if I ever need a wheelchair, I’ll need a powerchair, because I won’t be able to self-propel on the manual. Several months ago I had an acute illness that made my leg pain much worse, I was very barely able to walk, and the force I had to put on my shoulders at the side holding the cane gave me so much shoulder pain. For what this post is about I was thinking about forearm crutches, but realized they might put the load on the shoulders too.

Ok, his has now been (over) a week since I began using a cane!!! This post has been hanging in the drafts ever since lol

I thought I’d have to buy one in secret, but that day one of my legs was giving me hell and I talked to my mom about it and finally said I want to get a cane during that talk rather than out of the blue, and instead of telling me I don’t need a cane she said I don’t need to buy a new one and gave me the cane left from my late grandmother.

She also at first kept giving me sad glances and “reassuring” me that my legs will get better (so far they have only been getting worse, I think I might well need something more than a cane in future), but now everyone seems to be cool with it.

I wasn’t even sure it would help at all, and how, but it helps so much. Today at least at times I wouldn’t be able to walk or stand at all without it.

Special thanks to @stripedroseandsketchpads with her support and resources, @space-glasgow with their (ours 💔💔) Higgins!Master, @aro-spectre with his addition to my post that has played a part in encouraging me to make the decision on Getting The Cane, and, yeah, all the Get The Cane posters — I was very lucky to have skipped the part I was fearing the most and I still stand on my point that people shouldn’t dress over the ableism the person might encounter in just the process of Getting The Cane, but also without all those posts I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have even occurred to me that I might benefit from Getting The Cane. Guess I gotta be just eternally grateful. Really, thank you all so much.

Also all my blorbos are cane users now.