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Innovative Cane — Walkin’ Strong

At the WCD Expo this past fall, I tried out a new cane from Strong Arm Mobility. The site’s designed badly with a flash screen to discourage you, but this link will get you to a description of the innovative design.

Essentially, it serves the function of a standard cane, but relying on forearm support rather than just the wrist. It’s kind of aStrong Arm Mobility Curved Arm Cane cane/forearm crutch hybrid, without the clumsiness of a forearm crutch.

I preferred it to any cane I’ve used in the past — it’s just as light as a standard cane, but feels far more stable, and the handle felt like a comfortable extension of my arm. I wondered if the rather attractive curve of the cradle would feel bulky or awkward, but I hardly noticed it, and the cane seemed to move organically with me as I walked.

The rubber tip is larger than typical ones, and has a natural grip and spring rather like on the soles of my favorite walking shoes. Foam sleeves on the grip and arm are a big plus for ease of use and comfort. An unexpected bonus is that the foam keeps the cane from sliding off of tables, chairs and walls it’s set against.

Retail cost is higher than a typical cane — at sixty dollars retail, about two-to-three-times the price of a basic off-the-rack model. Here’s hoping StrongArm gets their website fixed so people can contact them and find their product.

7 replies on “Innovative Cane — Walkin’ Strong”

I don’t think the sites done badly… Better than most cane manufacturers. To each is own, I guess.

Thanks for your comment, John. I see what you mean about other cane websites.

There’s a lot of good information about the product on the Strong Arm Mobility website; I was just objecting to the Flash screen, which web users say is one of the most annoying things they encounter on the Internet.

I got an email from Strong Arm Mobility earlier this afternoon saying that they had been working on removing the Flash screen, and I see that it’s already gone. That’s a good move, I think — now it’s much easier to get to the good stuff.

Can you tell me where I can get this cane for $60? Every web site I looked at the price was around $80.

Last fall the Strong Arm representatives at the WCD Expo quoted the $60 (USD) price — it looks as if that was optimistic. It’s a great cane, but that $80 price is a killer. For my pocketbook, $60 was an upper limit . . . I suspect I’m not alone in feeling that way.

The sad truth is that if the price is too high, you’ll soon see this cane remaindered at much lower prices. So keep an eye out — Strong Mobility’s loss may end up your gain, though that would be too bad for everyone.

Our MSRP remains $59.99, but we cannot control or tell retailers what to sell it for. We allow for enough margin selling it at wholesale prices to them, but they want to make as much as they can. In addition, there are a few distribution steps that add to the cost and as a result you see much higher prices in retail than expected. We hope that when we start mass producing the Strongarm cane, retail prices will go down to $60. Do not forget that Strongarm is classified as a forearm crutch by FDA and is eligible for reimbursement in that category (80% of $50 in most states). The supply is very limited at the moment and we have more orders than we can fill.

Thanks for the additional information, Andrey. Here’s hoping that the price will settle much closer to the $60 mark — I suspect there’s a big market out there if this (in my opinion, great!) cane becomes widely available at a reasonable price.

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