FAQs
How Is The 3rd Foot Cane Different From Other Canes
The 3rd Foot Cane foot is designed and Patented to maintain balance from the back of the cane foot to the front of the cane foot with your arm next to your side and your head upright. Allowing you to drive your body the way you drive your car, with your head upright and your arm/arms next to your side supporting the alignment of your spine. The cane foot has the same proportions as your foot allowing you to regain and maintain a balanced, stable upright walking gait without extending your arm and leaning on a cane handle.
Traditional canes with a tip or 3 tips or 4 tips can not designed to support or maintain balance from the back to the front of the cane foot. They are designed to take some of the weight on one side of the body and transmit it to the ground on the other side of the body by extending your arm and using the cane handle. When you extend your arm away from your body and lean on or towards the cane handle to maintain balance your head stops being aligned and centered over your body and becomes positioned in front of the rest of your body. Your spine looses alignment and your step and stride become too small to maintain a stable walking gait. When your head stops being aligned and centered over your shoulders. Your shoulders stop being aligned over your hips and your weight bearing joints become unable to balance, load and unload the weight of your body evenly over and on your feet the way they are designed to. Your feet stop striking the ground from heel to toe necessary to engage your core muscles and maintain an upright stable walking gait. Continued use of traditional canes with a tip or tips results in a stiff, stooped unnatural walking gait because of the way your body is forced to be aligned and moved to maintain balance.
The 3rd Foot Cane is designed and Patented to let you move better, walk longer and get stronger by allowing your body to move the way it was designed to move when walking.
Watch the Customer videos and read the Customer Reviews to see the difference for yourself.
Does The Way you Walk And Adjust The 3rd Foot Cane Matter
Traditional canes with a tip or tips are designed to maintain balance by extending your arm and using the cane handle. They need to be adjusted to wrist height and extended away from your body to maintain balance. The weight bearing joints are designed to work together in pairs to maintain their alignment or they wear out and become painful.
The 3rd Foot Cane foot is ergonomically designed & Patented to be adjusted to leg height and used with your arm next to your side to maintain the body's stability, alignment and balance when walking using the cane foot.
Watch the Customer and How To Videos.
Will The 3rd Foot Cane Work For Everyone?
The 3rd Foot Cane is designed for people of all ages by helping them walk upright and stay upright and redevelop or regain a stable, balanced, upright, step, stride and walking gait. Read the customer reviews from people who have balance and gait conditions like ataxia, MS, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's, EDS, SB, vestibular and other conditions that affect mobility. As well as by people rehabbing from surgery, strokes and other injuries that affect mobility.
The cane will not work for everyone. If you have lost the ability to pick up your feet when you walk and you shuffle with your feet next to each other and can't coordinate movement between the two sides of your body due to dementia the cane will not work for you.
If you are transitioning from a walker to a cane or you have trouble maintaining your midline with your head upright when you walk you will need 2 canes to reestablish a balanced, stable walking gait before transitioning to one cane.
If you have any questions or are unsure if you need one cane or two canes call 310-800-0110 or email customerservice@alignedasdesigned.com.
Do you need to relearn how to use a cane in order to benefit from the 3rd Foot Cane?
The 3rd Foot Cane is designed to help you regain, maintain or develop a stable upright walking gait by letting you walk with your head upright and centered over your body and without extending your arm and leaning on a cane handle to maintain balance. The angled cane shaft moves at the same angle as the leg when walking helping maintain your body's natural alignment keeping weight of your wrist and shoulder. Watch the "How to Use" videos to learn how to use the 3rd Foot Cane foot together with your foot when walking.
Can I use the cane if I have drop foot and how do I use it?
Yes. Linda's designed the cane for herself when she was relearning how to walk after she developed drop foot after a life altering car accident. She started with 2 canes, then transitioned to 1 and after the first year no cane.
Drop Foot Instructions
Put the cane next to your stronger side. When the foot with drop foot moves forward the cane foot moves forward together with it. Make sure the cane foot and the foot with Drop Foot contact the ground together. If your foot with drop foot does not contact the ground from heel to toe make sure that the cane foot and the foot with drop foot contact the ground the same way.
Adjusting: Place the cane foot next to the outside of the leg opposite to the foot with drop foot. Adjust the cane high enough so that the foot with drop foot and the cane foot maintain your upright posture and stability when when your foot without drop foot comes off the ground and swings forward during the walking cycle. Your weight should be evenly distributed between the cane foot and your feet. When the cane is adjusted high enough and the front of the cane foot and the front of the foot with drop foot contact the ground together at the same time the front of the cane foot will provide a second point of contact that will stabilize the front of the foot with drop foot and keep the toes from bending and curling under when walking forward and on a ramp and the stairs.
Read the customer reviews and watch the customer videos from people with drop foot using the cane on Amazon and our website. Keep your arm next to your side and your head upright when walking for the cane foot to support and maintain balance, stability and a second point of contact throughout the walking cycle for the front of the foot with drop foot. There are additional cane videos and foot exercises to help reestablish a heel to toe walking gait on our Instagram page.
Can the 3rd Foot Cane help you recover after your Hip/Knee Surgery?
Absolutely! The 3rd Foot Cane foot moves and maintains balance like a foot. It acts like a third foot (or fourth foot when using two) taking weight off your hip, knee, and ankle joints and evenly transmitting some of the weight between the cane foot/feet and your feet helping you redevelop a balanced, stable, upright step, stride and walking gait. Watch the customer videos on the review page from people using the canes after hip and knee surgery. The angled cane shaft moves at the same angle as your leg helping maintain your body's natural alignment and keeping weight off your wrist and shoulder. The offset cane foot allows the hip, knee, and ankle joints to stay aligned and working together in pairs to evenly load and unload the weight of the body and help regain or redevelop a stable, upright walking gait. Read the customer reviews and watch the customer videos on our website and Amazon from people who used the cane/canes after surgery or an injury.
If you have Elhlers-Danlos Syndrome do you use The 3rd Foot Cane with the foot next to the cane or the opposite foot?
Elhers-Danlos Syndrome weakens and affects the connective tissues of the body. It is common for people with EDS to have loose and painful joints and fragile or stretchy skin. Use The 3rd Foot Cane with whichever foot ( the foot next to the cane or the opposite foot ) will decrease joint pain, increase the alignment and stability of the spine and other weight bearing joints and maintain an upright walking gait. Adjust the cane high enough to keep your head up and your line of sight in the direction you're walking (the only time you should look down when you walk wether you have EDS of not is when you're on the stairs or making a transition from one surface height to another ) to help maintain the alignment of the spine, and to maximize the visual field and increase the body's balance and stability. Use the cane foot to maintain balance not the cane handle. Keep your arm next to your side and your hand relaxed when walking. Let the cane foot and your foot contact the ground together from back to front or heel to toe. The cane foot provides a second point of contact when walking that takes weight off the hip, knee, and ankle joints and redistributes it between the cane foot and your feet. When the cane is used and adjusted correctly it should help stabilize your joints and make walking easier allowing you to walk longer, feel stronger and put less stress on your joints.
30 Day Return Policy
The 3rd Foot Cane may be returned within 30 days of shipment to the customer for a full refund; return postage for International orders is the responsibility of the customer. If a product is damaged in transit domestically or Internationally then Aligned As Designed will replace the cane at no cost to the customer and provide a return label for the damaged cane. If the cane is returned and has been damaged, or altered we will not refund the order. We cannot accept returns from people needing a cane or canes for an extended period of time after surgery as they can not be restocked or sold. For more information or to begin a return please contact customer service at 310-800-0110.
Does the cane foot stand up by itself
The cane foot does not stand the cane up by itself like a cane foot with tips that you extend away from your body and lean on to maintain balance putting stress on your spine and weight bearing joints. You can stand the cane up against a wall using the back of the cane handle, or use the edge of a cabinet, a towel rack as well as on the back of most chairs using the cane strap looped over the cane handle. You can use the handles of 2 canes to stand the canes up by themselves. The cane foot was designed to let you stand up straight with balance and stability with your arm close to your side and your head centered between your shoulders without leaning on a cane handle.
How do I adjust the cane height?
Watch the How To Videos on the Home Page. Adjust the cane to leg height or higher. Make sure the cane is high enough so that when your arm is next to your side when standing and walking your weight is evenly distributed between the cane foot and your feet without leaning forward or towards the cane. Keep your arm next to your side, hand relaxed and let the back or the front of the cane foot contact the ground together with the back and front of your foot. If you find yourself leaning forward or to one side or don't feel completely stable adjust the cane higher.
How does the 3rd Foot Cane compare to single point, 3 Tip, & Quad Canes?
The 3rd Foot Cane foot is ergonomically designed and Patented to maintain balance and your body's natural alignment with your arm next to your side keeping weight off your wrist and shoulder. You're able to maintain or regain a normal size step, stride and walking gait by aligning and moving your body the way it was designed to move and to engage your core muscles. Traditional canes are designed to maintain balance by extending your arm away from your side and leaning on a cane handle. The head stops being aligned and centered over the body and becomes positioned downward in front of the rest of your body. You have to shorten your step and stride and end up walking on your mid foot and the front of your foot. When your head and line of sight become positioned downward in front of the rest of your body when walking your spine looses its natural alignment Your feet stop contacting the ground from heel to toe and your core muscles between your neck and waist become weaker because of the way you're forcing your body to move to maintain balance.
Single point, 3 tip, 4 tip and Quad canes continuously misalign and force the body to lean to one side onto or towards a cane handle to maintain balance and force your body to move in ways it was never designed for. They cause secondary disability unrelate to age, injury and conditions that affect mobility by the way your body is forced to be aligned and moved to maintain balance. If you're interested in learning more about the differences between The 3rd Foot Cane and traditional canes, visit our comparison section.
Why is the foot of the cane larger in the front and smaller in the back?
The 3rd Foot Cane foot is ergonomically designed to mimic the shape and biomechanics of a human foot. The back of your foot is smaller and the front is larger like your foot. The cane foot maintains balance from the back of the cane foot to the front of the cane foot like a foot.
Can I use two canes?
Absolutely! Many people use 1 cane at home and 2 canes for daily walks for extra stability and to help them reestablish an upright balanced walking gait after an injury, stroke, or surgery. Others use 2 canes at home to gently stretch and exercise with like on our Instagram videos. Linda personally reaches out to every customer after they purchase - If you have any questions before or after you purchase the cane send Linda an email or call customer support.
Can the 3rd Foot Cane help with Plantar Fasciitis?
Plantar fasciitis makes walking painful because the fascia that runs from the heel to the toes becomes inflamed. The 3rd Foot Cane is the only cane foot that maintains contact with the ground the way the human foot. By acting as a 3rd Foot and supporting the foot and the vertical stability of the body from heel to toe it takes weight off the foot with plantar fasciitis and redistributes it between the cane foot and the user's feet relieving some of the pain caused from plantar fasciitis making walking easier and helping the foot to reestablish proper foot mechanics. Proper foot mechanics allows the foot to strike the ground from heel to toe and keeps the fascia from contracting and becoming painful.
What is the science behind the 3rd Foot Cane?
The cane was designed following Davis's Law and Wolff's Law. Drs Davis and Wolff were orthopedic surgeons. Dr Davis is best know for the term, "Use it or lose it". Davis's Law describes how soft tissue models along imposed demands, how that tissue will adapt, change or heal in the manner in which they are mechanically stressed. Wolffs Law describes how healthy bone will remodel itself over time becoming stronger to resist any loads placed upon it. The inverse is true as well. Bones become weaker and less dense if the loading on a bone decreases. If you walk bent over you will become more bent over. In other words practice good or bad makes permanent.
When you walk looking down at the ground or leaning on or towards a cane handle your head becomes positioned in front of the rest of your body you are less stable and have less balance. Your spine loses its natural alignment and the muscles that support the alignment of your spine and weight bearing joints becomes weaker. When you look down at the ground when you walk your step and stride must become smaller to maintain balance or you'll fall. You stop walking heel to toe and you have to walk on the front and mid foot part of your foot to maintain balance. Your feet stop striking the ground from heel to toe engaging the core muscles and your core muscles become weaker with each step you take. You are the way you walk. Form follows function. Bone function changes cause bone structure modification-Wolff's Law. If you walk bent over a cane to maintain balance your core muscles become weaker with each step you take because they are not being engaged when you walk and you become more bent over with time-Davis's Law. If you walk upright and stay upright you will become upright with time because you're using your body the way it was designed to be used to maintain or regain upright posture, balance and stability.
The 3rd Foot Cane's offset cane foot supports and maintains the weight of the body from heel to toe, or back to front without having to lean forward or onto a cane handle to maintain balance like a single pt, 3 tip, 3 prong or 4 tip cane. When the cane is adjusted and used correctly with the arm close to the side the head stays centered between the shoulders, the shoulders over the hips and the hip, knee and ankle joints are able to evenly balance and load and unload the weight of the body over and on the feet. The body maintains alignment and vertical stability and the weight bearing joints are able to work together in pairs the way they were designed to work to evenly load and unload the body's weight over and onto the feet helping engage the core muscles responsible for upright posture, balance, and stability. When the body maintains postural equilibrium with the feet contacting the ground from heel to toe it allows you to maintain, regain or develop a stable size step, stride, and walking gait.
Does insurance cover the 3rd Foot Cane?
We are currently in the process of being approved for FSA eligibility.
We accept returns 30 days from the date of shipment
Is there a warranty?
We stand behind our products 100%. The 3rd Foot Cane and Crutch have Limited Lifetime Warranty. Find out more information about warranties on our Lifetime Warranty page.
I didn't get the answer to my question here.
We love to hear from our customers and answer any questions you might have. Contact us by email at customerservice@alignedasdesigned.com with your questions or call Linda at 310-800-0110.