I recently took a large fall rock climbing and broke my foot in two places. Doctor’s orders: no weight for six weeks. I ended up trying four mobility devices, all of which had some utility, but my favorite by far was the iWalk 3.0, a.k.a. the “peg-leg.”

I was recommended and loaned this device by a friend of my sister who had rehabbed a similar injury, so I’m going to pass along the favor by writing a short and to-the-point review for other people who may have a broken foot, broken ankle, ACL injury, etc. Short version is: this thing lets you walk around at a fairly normal pace, and carry things while you do so. It is far more maneuverable than a knee scooter, and handles stairs with ease (although you may have to go down backwards!).

I think in 20 years, everyone will be using these.

I tried the following mobility aids for my non-weight bearing injury:

• Standard crutches (worst)
• Arm crutches
• Knee Scooter
• iWalk Crutch (best)

Crutches are an ancient technology, light, cheap and well-known. The problem with crutches is they rub your shoulder crotches raw, monopolize both your hands, and are difficult to use on stairs. The arm crutches save your shoulders but have all the other issues.

Knee scooters improve on the shoulder issue, but are completely unusable on stairs.

Similar to a knee scooter, the iWalk crutch bends your leg 90-degrees at the knee, placing your injured leg on a cushion. But instead of a scooter, the iWalk has a couple stiff aluminum bars which are attached to a rectangular foot pad, which is soled with very sticky Vibram rubber.

(“Do you think you can climb with it?” is the question everyone asked. And if you were really dumb, I think yes – you could rock climb with the iWalk. Vibram rubber is the exact stuff they use on climbing shoes, so I don’t see why not.)

Taking the iWalk on and off

You connect to the iWalk with three adjustable straps, one on your thigh, one at the bend of your knee, and one on your calf. Each strap has two adjusters, one for setting the length, and a smaller one for tightening and loosening. The straps can be secured with a simple but secure slide-in buckle. Once you are familiar with the straps (which may take a few days), it takes about 10 seconds to take your pegleg on and off.

Moving with the iWalk

Once you have the crutch assembled and attached to your body, moving with it is pretty intuitive. It’s essentially created a prosthetic leg for you, and you walk much the same way you do normally, by lifting with your thigh and stepping down. The pressure of the step goes onto your knee, which does take some getting used to, but is overall pretty manageable.

The provided knee pad is a little thin for prolonged use. Many people mod the iWalk by adding a layer of memory foam, but you can also use a folded up towel or t-shirt if you prefer. You may experience a little bit of irritation on your knee.

Otherwise, once you have the iWalk leg crutch attached, you walk more or less like normal. In fact, your thigh muscles will even be working a little harder than normal, since you’ve got the extra weight of the crutch. This comes in handy when it’s time to begin walking again – your leg will be less atrophied than it could have been. You’ll be a little slower than walking normally, but that’s to be expected – no mobility aid will match your normal biomechanics.

iWalk Downsides

The first caveat with this crutch is that you need good balance and strength. It is not going to work for geriatric patients or those with vestibular issues. But anyone with moderate physical fitness should have no problem, I think.

Although I loved this device, it was not quite perfect. For long outings, like going to the grocery store, the knee scooter was a lot faster.The other downside to the iWalk is that it takes ~10 seconds to get in and out of it, meaning it’s not very convenient in a situation where you are sitting down and getting up frequently. I always dreaded having to strap it on the go pee in the middle of the night, for example.

Overall

This isn’t an ad. This thing really eased my recovery, and I felt strongly about sharing!

The iWalk 3.0 is sweet. It frees up your hands for carrying things, and keeps your thigh muscles working, allowing you a high level of autonomy while recovering from your foot injury. You can do tasks like cooking dinner completely unassisted. It’s also a guaranteed conversation starter in public. I highly recommend it.

That said, I was still happy to say goodbye. Nothing beats walking on your own two feet!

You can get more info at the iWalk website; the crutch can be bought direct from iWalk, new or refurbished, and can also be purchased from Amazon. At the time of writing they’re asking $170 USD.