Anyone with any experience using a folding cane?

[Geezerette]

I use a regular cane occasionally for walking on uneven ground, longer than usual distances etc, but sometimes go weeks & don't. I'm thinking about taking some little trips this fall, & a folding one would be so much less nuisance in car, plane etc. But am wondering if they are durable, not likely to fold or unfold at inconvenient times, stuff like that. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[DaveA]

I use a regular cane occasionally for walking on uneven ground, longer than usual distances etc, but sometimes go weeks & don't. I'm thinking about taking some little trips this fall, & a folding one would be so much less nuisance in car, plane etc. But am wondering if they are durable, not likely to fold or unfold at inconvenient times, stuff like that. Any thoughts? Thanks.

I'm using a cane for the first time this year and have both a wooden one and the folding version. They are both fine in my case. I use the wooden one around the yard and keep the folded version in the car, although I always leave it extended. I don't need it for support as much as balance, especially when walking over uneven ground. No problems with my hips but the knees and ankles will react badly to a misstep. At 83, I think I'll tough out my remaining days with a cane or whatever else is needed.

 

[SeaBreeze]

I bought my husband one a couple of years ago when he was having some muscle issues in his leg. I bought mine from Walgreens, aluminum, T-handle, folding and adjustable.

We do walk in wooded areas on dirt trails in both summer and winter. He had issues with it separating at the folding points, especially in certain ground conditions like snow/mud/slush. Of course when this happened, the cane didn't give much stability until it was checked and set back in place.

So, I bought a similar one that was adjustable only, not foldable. He liked it much better. So my thought is it's not as durable for sure, but can be handy if traveling or camping, better to have something like that handy as opposed to nothing at all.

 

[jujube]

The cane I used this summer was a folding cane. I liked being able to fold it up and secure it with a Velcro strap to put it in my backpack. However, I had to be careful when I took the strap off because more than one it snapped open and gave me a whack. The only problem I could see with the folding cane is that it didn't seem to be as strong as the non-folding ones. If I were a 200-pounder, I'd probably be a little leery of that kind of cane.

 

[IKE]

I bought a heavy wooden cane when I had heel spur surgery several years back and I felt stable using it......maybe it's just me but I'd feel apprehensive about using a cane that wasn't completely solid and that folded or was collapsible .

Murphy's law, "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".