I have to
admit that I hate rollators, though there might be good reasons to prescribe
rollators. But in recent years I’ve seen a proliferation of people using
rollators. I’ve seen rollators at a supermarket (discounter) for sale for about
€ 50. Normally you pay €200-500 for a rollator in a medical store (prices apply
for Germany). I think this situation is alarming.
For
instance in patients suffering from COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]
there is a rational for using rollators [1]. “Rollator use resulted in
improvements in performance in the 6MW [6-minute walk], which were consistent
over time among individuals with moderate to severe chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease who walk less than 375 m during an unaided 6MW.”
You will
find a large set of different diseases, in which rollators are helpful. And you
will be able to find research data on useful appliance of a rollator as a
therapeutic appliance. I won’t put this to doubt!
But if
you try to find studies on the usefulness in other conditions you’ll look in
vain. I’ve searched in PubMed:
"Low Back Pain"[Mesh] AND
"rollator"
"Back Pain"[Mesh] AND
"rollator"
"Somatoform
Disorders"[Mesh] AND "rollator"
All these
searches resulted in:
“No documents match your search terms”
I doubt
that rollators in patients with chronic back or low back pain without red flags
or in patients suffering from somatoform disorders or fibromyalgia do any good.
Patients are fixed in a state of disease and helplessness instead of
recovering.
And I
see, at least in Germany, quite a lot of people on welfare benefits using
rollators. Maybe they want to express that they suffer from a disease that
keeps them from working. It’s a bad sign, if people need to rely on a rollator
to be accepted by society.
The
percentage of people using rollators in a wrong way is very high, if you look
at them downtown. They bend over the rollator, which is ruinous for the back –
if they didn’t have back pain before, now back pain will follow. You can see
such people also bending over shopping carts.
What
would I change?
A
rollator is a therapeutic appliance that has indications and
contra-indications. We should be very critical in whom we prescribe a rollator,
so that patients aren’t harmed by its use. We shouldn’t aggravate learned
helplessness but promote self-reliance. And if we prescribe rollators, patients
need to be instructed in its use by a physical therapist. A rollator should not
be sold at a supermarket!
Links:
You may try with "walking frame"
ReplyDeleteWalking frame (German - Gehbock) is used in hospitals and at home, mostly in elderly patients after surgery (post-traumatic).
DeleteThank you for the explanation.
Delete(das nächste Mal aber auf Deutsch, ja?)
Viele Grüße
Heike
Na gut! :)
DeleteMehr dazu mündlich.
Liebe Grüße! Lothar