Crutches, used for taking weight off an injured leg, haven’t much been changed in design since they first arrived on the scene. Now design student Behzad Rashidi has come up with a design for a crutch for the 21st century.

Rashidi came up with the concept idea for the International Design Excellence Awards 2014 challenge and became a finalist with the idea. The challenge was to come up with an idea for a design of a crutch which would perform better than traditional crutches, which fit under the arm and use the forearms of the person.

The first phase of the project was to find out the problems and limitations users experience when using traditional crutches. This meant talking with users of crutches along with experimenting by doing daily tasks with underarm and forearm traditional crutches. The main issue was the limitation they put on using the hands.

The second phase was to come up with a new idea for a design that would allow people to wear a crutch and keep their hands free. Rashidi came up with a design that is affordable, lightweight and ergonomic.

He calls it the Sit & Stand walking assistant and it leaves the hands free, as it is strapped on the thigh and ankle of the wearer.

When the person wearing it walks, the assistant supports the weight of the wearer on the small platform at the upper thigh, taking pressure off the injured leg and allowing the person to walk without having to use a crutch with the arms and hands.

If when walking the person gets tired they can simply take a break and lean back on the platform to take a rest. Of course as there are no crutches to hold in the hands they are free for the person to carry objects and open doors.

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