Walking upstairs:
Stand at the bottom of the stairs.
Hold on to a rail and use elbow crutches as needed.
When going up the stairs, follow this sequence:
- Place your hand firmly on the rail and your crutch close to your side
- Bend your affected leg up behind you
- Push your weight firmly through your hands and hop your good leg onto the step
- Finally, bring your crutches up to join your foot on the step.
Repeat this sequence for each step until you reach the top.
Walking downstairs:
- Hold on to a rail and use elbow crutches as needed.
- When going down the stairs, follow this sequence:
- Place your crutches onto the step you are going to move down to
- Place your affected leg out in front over the next step
- Next, push your weight firmly through the crutches and/or rail
- Finally, hop down with your good leg onto the step below
Repeat this sequence for each step until you reach the bottom.