Modern forearm crutches have evolved little since their invention last century. We evaluated comfort and user satisfaction of 2 spring-loaded crutches compared with existing crutch designs. 25 healthy subjects (11 male, average age 26.2 years; 14 female, average age 22.7 years) participated. Each used 5 different crutches in a randomly allocated order: standard forearm crutch (ergonomic grip); spring-loaded crutch (soft spring, ergonomic grip); spring-loaded crutch (firm spring, ergonomic grip); standard forearm crutch (normal grip); axillary crutch. Participants completed a purpose built course at the Pedestrian Accessibility and Movement LAboratory, UCL (PAMELA). The course consisted of a mixture of slopes (transverse and longitudinal), sprint, slalom, and a slow straight. All participants completed questionnaires relating to crutch user preference and design features.Introduction
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