Why Tennis Balls on your Medical Walker is not a good idea

I know you see tennis balls, cut open and stuck on the bottom of many two wheeled walkers. Visit any senior center and every other two-wheeled walker has the tennis balls on the back legs. They can even look like fun as they are brightly colored.

What are the tennis balls for? The most common reason is that it makes for a smoother walk and lessens the clanking and scraping as the back legs scrape along on the floor after the rubber caps on the back legs come off. And, we know that those rubber caps do wear out quickly from a well used walker.

Reason for tennis balls per ads is to keep walkers from slipping, protect floor while ensuring that the walker won’t slip on smooth surfaces or snag on carpeting. You can buy preslit tennis balls from a company called Walker.

There are really good reasons not to put tennis balls on your walker:

• Do you want neon colors showing off their walkers?
• Difficult and dangerous to slit the tennis ball open with a knife and wiggle it onto the legs
• The balls don’t last long – what starts out all soft and fuzzy gets hard and back to scraping quickly
• Unsafe as they make the walker unstable and add wear and tear to the walker itself
• Tennis balls are expensive! $12.99 for a set of 4. If a family member provides you with their used ones, the time on the floor is shortened even more than with a new one
• Tennis balls are unsanitary as they pick up and track germs. And, they just get dirty!

If you agree with me that tennis balls are not a good accessory and are looking for an alternative, at FreedomRefined.com we carry a style of walker glides called Walker Ski Glides by Carex ^®.

Very affordable, long lasting and fits most walkers. These glide smoothly over most surfaces, including grass and cement. It will fit any 1 1/8” walker tubing. Please check it out at our site. Click here to view. To install you need to remove either the tennis balls or rubber tips from the rear legs of your walker. Now insert the glides into each of the legs with the raised lip on the glide facing to the front of the walker. Make sure each glide fits securely into place and use a screwdriver to tighten the screw on the bottom of each glide by turning it clockwise.

Now get out there and hit the walkway with your new walker ski glides and remember, BE SAFE.

– Jenifer