The ultimate showdown: Crutches vs. wheelchair vs. knee scooter

After spending two and a half days on crutches, I was pretty miserable. Using crutches for a few minutes at first was easy. Using them all day to do anything at all was incredibly draining. These just aren’t muscles that your body is used to using — and I was getting exhausted quickly.

Even though I thought I might be able to get my insurance to cover a wheelchair or knee scooter, I couldn’t wait to deal with the red tape. I needed to gain some mobility and freedom back immediately as I was just spiraling into despair and helplessness. My wheeling desk chair did help me out, but it didn’t roll that well and it wasn’t an ideal situation. As someone who lives alone, I needed to feel like I could live my life a bit.

I found a place that rented knee scooters for $70 a month and wheelchairs for $50 and struggled my way over there and back, but I did it. (I had to ask some neighbors who were strangers to help me get the wheelchair out of my car and into my apartment. That was embarrassing and I cried, but once I had my new devices in my apartment, I felt so much better — less helpless and more independent.)

So, should you use crutches, a knee scooter or a wheelchair when recovering with a broken foot? Here is my comparison of the three modes of mobility when dealing with a broken fifth metatarsal:

	Pros	Cons	Rank
Crutches	+ You’ll probably get them for free when you break your foot. + They can travel with you in the car easily. + You actually expend some energy, build strength and get your blood flowing with these. It’s not being sedentary.	– So slow. You just hobble along at a snail’s pace and 10 feet feels so far. Hard for me to get into a good rhythm to move at a quicker pace. – Exhausting. You get a work out, which is a plus for a short period of time, but not to use all the time. Personally my upper body gets spent if I use them for too long.	#3 – last resort or for brief travel
Knee scooter	+ Good support for the foot, and if you need to dismount, you can lock it in place and use it for balance. + You’re in a stand-up position, which means you can do dishes, wash your hands, brush your teeth or prepare food on your counter very easily. + Pretty fast. You should be careful because this thing goes fast enough that you could wipe out. + If you’re going out and don’t want to use crutches, this will be easier to travel with than a wheelchair, as long as you have the trunk space and maybe a friend to help. You also get to be at standing level, which looks and feels better when you’re out.	– This was the most expensive item on the list. – This is the biggest one: It turns, but it’s more like driving a car – you need to do a three-point (or five-point) turn to change directions in tight spaces. I live in a smaller apartment with many tight turns and corners, and it makes the knee scooter tough to use. – I think the way your foot dangles off the edge, especially whilst wearing a heavy walking boot, feels weird, personally. – Although it folds, it’s still not easy to take with you if you’re traveling unless you have some friends to help you load it into a trunk that is big enough. It’s a little heavy and the shape is bulky.	#2 – not bad
Wheelchair	+ The ultimate freedom for moving around. I can use my hands to wheel around and carry stuff on my lap, or I can carry stuff in my hands and use my feet to push or pull me in the direction I want to go. (Yes, I can use the heel of my bad foot in the boot, but I can also drive it one-footed with my good foot. I took the foot rests off my wheelchair.) + Great in tight spaces, like a bathroom. You can spin around in place without needing a lot of space. Good for maneuvering around my tight kitchen that has an island. Sometimes I spin around in a circle just for fun. + Eliminates the need to constantly be transferring to other places to sit. I set my office chair aside and now I just roll up to my desk in my wheelchair instead of transferring back and forth. + This has to be said: It’s a lot easier to transfer to a low toilet seat from the wheelchair than the other devices, because you’re already low. Locks in place to provide balance.	– You truly feel like a disabled person in one of these, and it’s slightly depressing. – I’ve ordered a lot of food delivery, and I think when they see me in a wheelchair, they quietly react with pity or surprise or something. Maybe I am projecting. I’ve started standing to answer the door. – You definitely can’t travel with this easily. Although it folds up, it’s still pretty big and heavy – heavier than the knee scooter. – Being low is a plus when you need to switch over the toilet, but a minus for things like reaching your counter top or inside your fridge. I generally have to park, lock into the place and stand.	#1 – your best bet

I got both the knee scooter and the wheelchair because I reached a point where I was totally willing to throw money at my problems. I was surprised to see that the wheelchair turned out to be way more functional and all around better, given that the knee scooter cost more and I see it recommended all the time.

If you could only pick one, I’d go with the wheelchair. I’ve done dishes and cooking with the knee scooter, but you can also just roll up and park your wheelchair and then stand. The knee scooter makes you feel a little less disabled and less helpless, but the fact that it is difficult to turn in tight spaces makes it frustrating to use.

I’d return the knee scooter to the medical supply place and save some money, but my apartment’s ADA compliance sucks. This building has heavy doors that slam shut on their own with no way to prop them open and no buttons to open them remotely, and I have to go through several just to get to my car. I’ll just waste $70+ I guess. (One thing using all of these crutches, knee scooter and wheelchair has taught me is that even despite the ADA, the world is just not designed for people with disabilities. Credit to the folks who put up with it — it’s really a shame how little thought is apparently put into it.)

If unlike me, you’re gonna be going out and traveling more, you may want the knee scooter. But I work from home and am staying put, so for me the wheelchair is the clear winner. The knee scooter has been untouched and I use the crutches when I go to the doctor.