A General Cane Guide For Writers And Artists (from A Cane User, Writer, And Artist!)
A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)
Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!
This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.
This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions in your writing, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!
This is NOT a medical resource!!! And never tell a real person you think they're using a cane wrong!
![[Image text] Arm bends a little. Cane height at hip joint. Many canes have adjustable height. Cane sits within the natural center of balance. Causes stress on: Triceps, upper back, wrist (pressure) fingers (grip). Helps with: Joints (lower back, hip, knee, ankle, foot), weakness, balance, pain.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/0c8731401f496885dc8d4309a7dbe7ee/f831b3159e1d7635-e7/s500x750/6e5fe00081a6ce3b64cbe1a648f0c967f9f601e9.jpg)
The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!
A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.
Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height can make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)
(some people elect to use a cane wrong for their personal situation despite this, everyone is different!)
(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)
When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane and the bad leg and follow with the good leg!
Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.
In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.
Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!
![[Image text] 4 Major Handle Shapes (significant variation and uses). Tourist/Crook/Hook. Classic shape, fashion and medical, easy to hook on things (arm, door, chair, etc), generally solid wood (stronger, heavier). Offset. Newer design, not a fashion handle, only handle for quad-bases, generally better balance, usually aluminum (light + cheap), soft handle, adjustable (rattles/clicks when swinging). Derby/Fritz/Anatomical/Contour. Classic medical shape, many fashion variants, some fashion + medical, varies in many ways, sometimes contoured to hand, comes in foldable styles, many aluminum styles, many customizable styles. Knob/Decorative. Fashion exclusive, knob shape hurts the hand after prolonged pressure (especially with designs), tend to be heavy, "sword canes" have the same issues.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/102d2e5f13a88817eaa44974bc5a7486/f831b3159e1d7635-e2/s500x750/887023dbcfc758db12a7fcf3f258bca52eba2d53.jpg)
(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)
The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!
Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.
The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!
This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!
However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.
![[Image text] 4 Major base shapes (significant variation and uses). Adjustable base. Aluminum, standard modern medical, adjustable height, rubber base, wears down over time. Tripod/ quad base. If you need extra balance. Terrain attachment (varies, this is for ice). Removable, helps stop slipping on ice/snow/sand/etc, some canes have a retractable tip for ice. Classic base. Non-adjustable, custom only, modern standard still has a rubber base.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/78d350cfac4077376b7ce521a9a7d929/f831b3159e1d7635-ab/s500x750/4b4a6b8062c06686baf17c83c28b793bfb89e05b.jpg)
Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)
Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.
Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)
(my canes, for reference)
If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!
When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!
For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.
![[Image text] Where to put your stuff. Purses/bags. A lot of size range, Can mess with balance, Zippers are too hard with one hand, Handheld means you have no hands, over the shoulder only. Fanny pack. Accessible with one hand, Limited space, Good for balance. Backpack. Very physically comfortable, evenly weighted, holds a lot (medicine, foldable cane, emergency supplies, etc) can't access without fully stopping and putting cane down/hooking it on arm/dangling on strap. Pockets. Can only use on free side, many outfits don't have good pockets.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/de0f85e864c0ac470fb08900d78d8375/f831b3159e1d7635-21/s500x750/dbc646d95d144bb9c097f220361f074cc4b59584.jpg)
When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)
When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)
That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!
Happy disability pride month! Go forth and make more characters use canes!!!
More Posts from Aumbrictsuniwave and Others
i dont consider myself a 'fashion guru' by any means but one thing i will say is guys you dont need to know the specific brand an item you like is - you need to know what the item is called. very rarely does a brand matter, but knowing that pair of pants is called 'cargo' vs 'boot cut' or the names of dress styles is going to help you find clothes you like WAAAYYYY faster than brand shopping
the stats spiral
That's what I call it when I start obsessing over the numbers I get on fics or posts. When I refresh AO3 every five or ten minutes to see if I've got more hits or kudos. When I keep my tumblr activity page open in a tab to see new notes as soon as they come in.
It's not fun. Not really. Even when I sometimes tell myself it is.
You see, it starts out exciting! I've put a thing out there and now I get to see the reactions to it! I'm like a kid on their birthday who can't wait to see their presents. What are people going to say? Will they like it? Will they talk to me about it?
I'm lucky enough that I do get notes on tumblr posts and I do get comments and kudos when I post on AO3. But depending on how excited I am about the thing that I made and depending on how uncertain I am of whether it's any good, I want to get a lot more attention than I end up getting.
I know that that's a normal feeling. I know it's even a rational one! I've put a lot of effort into making something, or I've made something that I think my community will like, and not hearing back like I'd hoped can sometimes feel like rejection. It can be a huge disappointment that makes me doubt myself, my abilities, my connection to my community.
That's why I say it's not fun. Because even though 'engagement' can give me a really high high, it can also give me a really low low.
When I finally realize I'm in one of those lows (and it sometimes takes me a while to realize that I am), that's when I know that I need to step away.
When it's really bad, I just stop posting until I'm in a better mental space. For me, I now recognize that those feelings are often coming from me wanting a connection of some kind. The need for attention is coming from a feeling of loneliness or isolation, and so I need to counteract that by reaching out to people I know and care about to have a chat or a meal or just some time spent doing something communal.
When I can catch it early, then I force myself to close the activity tab here on tumblr and hide whatever stats are making me spiral on AO3. I've learned to recognize that I'm looking to those metrics as a way to feel important or special or cared for in some way and that I need to figure out where I'm feeling insecure in my life and how to get some reassurance - because strangers on the internet won't be able to give me what I need.
If you're currently spiraling, first of all lemme give you a hug ❤️ I hope you can take some time and figure out what it is that you want those stats to tell you about yourself or what it is that you think those stats will give you that you're not getting from somewhere else.
And if you haven't heard it lately, I'm glad that you're in this world - no matter what kind of numbers you have on your posts.
How to turn off AI Training of your content on Web and Mobile:
On a Web Browser:
I had some trouble finding this option. My first instinct was to click the settings button on the left, but that's where it is!
First, you'll click the name of your blog on the left sidebar to bring it up on your browser.
Then click "Blog settings" on the right sidebar once your blog is brought up. That's where they're hiding it.
Click "Prevent Third-Party Sharing" under the Visibility section, and bam! You're done.
On Mobile:
Thankfully it's much easier on mobile. Just click the Gear icon on your blog's page, to go to settings.
Scroll all the way down until you see Visibility, then toggle the Prevent third-party sharing option for your blog!!
If you disable this setting on mobile, it automatically synced it to my web browser settings, too. ...But if you use both Web and Mobile, I would still highly recommend double checking that it actually turned off on both!!
Check that it's turned off on your side blogs too! And check your settings every now and then anyway to ensure that it's staying turned off, because if my memory serves right, some other websites will pull some shenanigans on things like this and opt you back in without telling you!
Leave Feedback on New Features at Tumblr Support Here!! Let Staff know however we can that having our content fed to AI at their whim is unacceptable.
And if you have the option to poison your art with Nightshade or Glaze, keep it up!!
KOSA has been introduced in the House.
It will be discussed in a hearing next Wednesday (April 17th) along with other related bills. There's a calling day planned for the day before (April 16th) to show just how much resistance there is to this bill, but you don't have to participate in that to tell your reps it's garbage.
It hasn't been passed in the Senate yet, so contact your Senators too!
Here are two email and call tools (be aware that the Bad Internet Bills tool will take you through a number of relevant representatives, most of which won't be your local reps. Stop KOSA will give you the option to call after you send an email):
Your representatives might also be available to fax via FaxZero, which is completely free - just make sure you click the confirmation links in your email to actually send your faxes. It accepts regular .txt files for the fax, along with common file types like .docx and .pdf. You can copy an email script or the call scripts from this post for the body of your fax:
Hello, I come from China. These are some cosplay props made by myself. Welcome to communicate!
undertale
the venus girdle (cestum veneris) | aquatilis_expedition on ig
Do you ever feel like your art looks like a bland copy of the original reference picture? I’ve got a couple of tricks that can help make your studies more interesting and eye-catching ✨
This is a preview of my tutorial on 6 simple tricks for stylizing your studies! Find the full video on my Patreon.
The first image is a reference I found on Pinterest, I'm not sure who the original artist is. But if anyone does know, comment the original artist, or original artist comment yourself and let me know, so proper credit can be given.
Below that is my own drawing and I'll sign my art with 'HPT' for 'Hot-Pink Tsunami' or part of my username initials 'ATW'. This is the first thing going up I guess.-
Hey guys ❤️
I finally moved into my mom's VERY crowded house, and got settled here, but an old injury has resurfaced and made it to the point that I can no longer do my job. My job also has no intentions of accommodation, as they've already made it clear that they want me back at 100% in 12 weeks, or I no longer have a job.
This being said, I will be unpaid either until the tear in my rotator cuff heals or until I can find a new job.
Please consider commissioning my [Art] or [Writing], or possibly donating a [Rootbeer] on my K0-fi for a thank you doodle!
If you can't or aren't interested in doing any of that, please consider reblogging ❤️🙏
Thank you so much!
🔹 Someone else's fiction cannot cause you physical harm.
🔹If someone else's fiction is causing you emotional or psychological harm, or distress, you can put it down and not read/watch it.
🔹Your emotional well-being is not the responsibility of fiction writers.
🔹Someone else's fiction is not about your personal trauma.
🔹When reading or watching fiction, you always have the power. You can always stop. You are never reading fiction without your own consent.
🔹Fiction writers are not responsible for other people's mental health.
🔹The content of a piece of fiction does not reflect on the morality of its author.
🔹Just because someone writes about bad things happening, doesn't mean they want those things to happen.
🔹Don't like? Don't read.
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Just someone that does drawing, sketching, photography, singing, writing, and character creation; Such as OCS, inspired characters, or head canons. Please do not repost, copy, use in Ai, etc, unless you ask my permission. 20 years
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