Before you buy crutches. The seven questions worth answering first.
The directory tells you where suppliers are. These guides cover what it cannot: which design suits how long you will be on them, what a fair price looks like, what your insurance will and will not do, and how to set a pair up so they stop hurting your hands.
Choosing
Which design suits your injury, and how to set it up so it does not hurt.
The four kinds of crutch
Underarm, forearm, platform and knee scooters. Who each one suits, and the trade-off you accept with each.
Read more ChoosingHow to size and fit crutches
The two adjustments that decide whether crutches hurt, plus the walking pattern and the stairs technique.
Read moreBuying
Where crutches are actually sold, how fast you can get them, and what to ask.
Paying
Real prices, what insurance does, and when renting beats buying.
What crutches actually cost
Price ranges by type and by retailer, why a hospital pair costs more, and where the free options are.
Read more PayingDoes Medicare cover crutches?
Part B, the 80/20 split, the written order, the enrolled-supplier rule and the HCPCS codes that carry it.
Read more PayingRent or buy?
The break-even math for crutches, knee scooters and wheelchairs, and the one case where renting clearly wins.
Read moreThese guides are general information, not medical advice, and are not written or reviewed by a clinician. Talk to the clinician treating you about which mobility aid suits your injury and what weight-bearing restrictions apply to you. Each guide lists the government sources behind it at the foot of the page.