Two years ago I would have told you a walker is a walker and that a seat on one was for somebody worse off than me. I am Hal Brockman, 74, and I carried mail on a county route outside Tupelo, Mississippi for 31 years. When my physical therapist moved me off the loaner two-wheel walker and onto a four-wheel Drive Medical rollator about 16 months ago, I figured I was taking a step backward. Then I sat down in the middle of a Wednesday morning at the feed store, finished my coffee, and got back up without hurrying. That was the day I stopped thinking of the seat as an extra.
Here is what I am not going to tell you. I am not going to tell you a rollator fixes anything. It does not. What it does is give an older body somewhere to put its weight when the ground is uneven or the line is long, and a place to sit when your hip has had enough. Mine stays in the carport and rides in the truck bed when we go somewhere. Ask your doctor or your physical therapist about fit before you buy one, because handle height is not a guess you want to make alone.
The seat is the reason it ever leaves the carport
A padded seat, fold-up back support and hand brakes on a steel frame, about 20 pounds and folding for the truck. This is the one I have used on every outing for 16 months.
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You sit down in the middle of the outing, not at the end of it
I do not leave early anymore. That is the short version. On Wednesdays at the feed store I used to stand through the whole conversation with my old route buddies, shifting weight from one foot to the other, and then make an excuse about the garden. Now I park it beside the bench, sit on the padded seat for a minute, and stay for the second cup. Nobody makes a thing of it. By the time I stand back up my hip has quieted down and my balance feels like mine again.
The hand brakes let you slow down instead of hoping
The ramp outside the pharmacy in town is not steep, but it is steep enough, and a parking lot with a slope to it will get your attention. The hand brakes on the handles let me squeeze and slow myself instead of taking the whole slope at whatever speed gravity had in mind. I use them going down the lane to the mailbox too, where the gravel has washed a little. Doris noticed the difference before I did. She said I quit leaning back.
7.5 inch wheels carry you over gravel, thresholds and curb cuts
The lane from my carport out to the mailbox is gravel, and gravel is where cheap wheels give themselves away. The 7.5 inch wheels on this one roll over the loose stuff instead of digging into it. Same story at the door of the feed store, where the threshold has a lip on it, and at the grocery store curb cut. I am not lifting the thing over obstacles all afternoon. I am walking behind it and it is doing the work the ground would otherwise do to my hip.
The back support folds up, and it comes off when you do not want it
The back support on the Drive Medical rollator folds up and lifts off. When I am walking I leave it up, because it gives me something to sit back against when I take a break. When it goes in the truck, the back comes off and the whole thing lies flatter. That is a small thing that turns into a big thing when you are the one lifting it in and out of a truck bed twice a week.
The height adjustment lever puts the handles where your hands already fall
There is a height adjustment lever on the frame, and my physical therapist set it before I ever used it. Standing straight with my hands on the grips, my elbows are bent a little, not locked and not reaching. The listing says the maximum height is 35 inches and that it is recommended for people 59 inches and taller. Get somebody who knows what they are looking at to set yours. I adjusted mine once in 16 months and have not touched it since.
A steel frame and a 350 pound listing capacity mean it does not skitter
What I did not expect was how much difference the frame makes to how steady a thing feels. The frame is alloy steel and the listing capacity is 350 pounds. I am around 200, and when I put my weight on the handles to steady myself, it takes the lean instead of walking away from me. A light frame that skates across a tile floor is worse than no aid at all, because you quit trusting it, and once you quit trusting it you leave it in the carport.
20 pounds folds down and rides in the truck bed
The whole thing weighs about 20 pounds. That is light enough for me to lift on a good morning and light enough that Doris or my son Wade can lift it on a bad one. Folded, it goes in the truck bed behind the cab. If you are still getting yourself to the store, the question is not whether it folds. The question is whether you can get it in the truck by yourself on the day your hip is talking.
The grocery store stops being a race to the checkout
Doris does the shopping and I go along, and for a while I would wait in the truck. Now I go in. I walk the aisles behind the rollator, and when my hip starts in I sit on the seat at the end of an aisle and let her finish the list. She has stopped asking me whether I want to wait outside, which tells you what she thinks of the change. That is worth more to me than any feature printed on the box.
Standing in line stops being a balance test
The pharmacy line at the back of the drugstore is the worst one, because it is tile and it is slow. Standing still is harder than walking, if nobody has told you that yet. Being able to put both hands on the handles and lean takes the wobble out of the wait. I have also used the seat in that line, and I am past being embarrassed about it. An older man sitting on his own walker in a pharmacy line is not a sight anybody in that store finds strange.
The limited lifetime warranty means you buy it once
The frame carries a limited lifetime warranty from Drive Medical. I have had mine 16 months, in and out of a truck bed, over gravel, through two Mississippi summers, and nothing on it has loosened up. I am not a man who buys the fancy version of anything. I bought this one because my physical therapist pointed at it and because I did not want to be shopping for another one in a year. So far that has held.
What I'd Skip
Here is what I would skip. I would skip any rollator without a seat if you are the kind of man who stops to talk, because the seat is the reason mine leaves the carport. I would skip buying one off a shelf without having somebody check the handle height against you. A rollator set too low will have you hunched, and one set too high will have you reaching, and neither of those is a bargain at any price. And I would skip the plan where you just hold onto your wife's arm in a parking lot. Doris is 72 and steady, but she is not a handrail, and it is not fair to either of you to pretend otherwise. What I would not skip is the conversation with your doctor or physical therapist about whether a four-wheel rollator is the right aid for where you are right now. Mine was, 16 months on.
The wheels are what get me to the feed store. The seat is what lets me stay for the second cup of coffee.
Sixteen months in, and I still have not left an outing early
Steel frame, padded seat, fold-up back support, hand brakes, 7.5 inch wheels, about 20 pounds folded. Have your physical therapist check the handle height, then take it to the feed store and see for yourself.
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