First, let's talk about proper fit how do you know that this Walker actually fits your patient well before a patient even uses a walker for the first time it has to be adjusted, and on most Walker's they're adjusted down at the bottom you have to adjust each leg there are four of those legs so you've adjusted the Walker now what do you look for these are things you want to remember for your exams well have the patient hold onto the handgrips while they're standing with the Walker and you're going to look at that elbow there should be about a fifteen to thirty degree bend in the elbows also when the patient holds their arms down at their side their wrist crease should line up with those hand grips those two things really tell you that this Walker fits this patient the next thing you want to know about is the gait how does your patient actually walk with the Walker and this is something that you really want to pay attention to for exams. So you want to make sure that you're paying attention to what's moving first is that the walkers at the weak side or the strong side and how that order goes so before a patient actually uses a walker for those first couple times you want to make sure that you have applied a gait belt to their waist for safety also you want to stand on the patient's weak side in case they start to stumble or fall you want to be there and you want to tell the patient before they start ambulating with their Walker that they don't want to stare down at their feet while they're doing it even though that just seems like something natural you want to do that can actually mess them up and cause them to fall they want to look straight ahead just like if they were walking normally and the starting position how do they start out walking with their Walker well they want to make sure that the back tips of the Walker match up with the middle of their foot. Now let's talk about how you actually ambulate with a walker to ambulate with the Walker first the patient's going to get in position and hold onto the handgrips of the Walker first they will lift and move the Walker forward and then make sure all four points of the Walker are touching the ground then they will move the weeks put weight on the hands the other hand grips and then move the strong side again they will lift the Walker move it forward make sure all four points are on the ground then they will move the weak side put weight on the handgrips and then move the strong side to sit down in a chair a patient is going to take their Walker hold on to the hand grips and slowly back up to the chair until they fill the chair with the back of their legs then they're going to Walking Cane slightly extend that weak leg out and take their hands and position them behind them and then their strong leg and feel for the chairs armrest and then set down to get up from the chair what the patient's going to do is of course make sure the Walker is out in front of them.