You people never cease to amaze me. Who would have thought we should google proper ways to use walkers and canes? You just get one handed to you or buy them and it’s just assumed you know. My back and arms hurt enough using my walker, and I saw how hunchbacked I looked in a store window one day, that I’ve started standing straighter with my walker for posture but am afraid I’m going to trip on something since my eyes aren’t focused on the ground when I do that. I’m thankful when I don’t use either tool because then I’m not hurting my arms, but for shopping or distance I need one. I know that tonight I will be googling and you-tubing proper cane and walker use. It’s for my own long term good. Thanks to you both!

What I've yet to master –– not that I can say honestly that I've mastered anything about using a cane (LOL) –– are steps. The YouTube tutorials make it look oh so easy. Oh, yeah? An example of what a klutz I am when it comes to using a cane to negotiate steps is the two teeny-tiny steps leading out of my dentist's office. Before Covid, patients came & went by the front door (no steps!); since Covid, patients are asked to use the back door, which leads to those two teeny-tiny steps before your shoes are on the sidewalk. I refuse to go out the back door. I've mentioned my balance problems. The reaction I get is "Oh? So? There are only two steps." Just so I can go out the front door, I've taken to making up the lamest of excuses: "I left my cell phone in the waiting room," "My chauffeur will be waiting for me out front," yadda yadda.