These Special Tennis Balls In Walker Glides Make Life Easier for the Sandwich Generation Caring for Elderly Parents With Medical Needs

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There are plenty of major results and changes from a total hip replacement surgery and recovery, which is also true for other major surgeries,This is true for all of us – both in and out of the Sandwich Generation. But there are also a ton of minor tweaks and travails – and those aren’t always written about as much.

Take those lightweight walkers with wheels for the elderly (and sometimes not so elderly) seniors. The ones that often have tennis balls stuck on the back. My senior relative was given one in the hospital but it wasn’t as easy for her to use as her own, so I brought that up to her. At home on the carpet, her Carex walker worked great. But on the hospital non-carpeted floors, while it worked better than the other one, it made a really annoying squeaky sound that drove her, me, and the staff a bit bonkers. Time for the tennis balls. So yesterday, I was trying to figure out how to cut the tennis balls for the walkers SAFELY – not to mention trying to figure out how I was to put said tennis balls on a walker and keep them there. Frankly, cutting holes into the tennis balls didn’t thrill me – especially when the physical therapist warned me to do it carefully so I didn’t cut myself! Not to mention the fact that I’m not as strong as I used to be.

After considerable research, I found a great solution I liked a WHOLE lot better. Aren’t they cute? And no, they are not alien robot legs – no matter what my grandkids may tell you. 🙂

These are Invacare walker glides with the balls inside – called Court side glides – and they work GREAT! They come just like you see – with the bottom part of the walker leg, the tennis ball holders already attached and the tennis balls in them. As I’ve mentioned she actually has one of the pretty blue Carex lightweight walkers that are nice for elderly seniors. Our whole family likes them. 🙂 Even though the brand was different, the glides fit perfectly. I just pulled off the bottom section of leg on her walker and replaced it with these. I can’t speak for any other brand, but as long as the size is the same, I would think they would work on others as well. In our case, both the nurse and the therapist gave these walker glides their seal of approval. In fact, while chatting about it with my senior relative’s nurse, she commented that she thought this was a much better choice than wrestling with the tennis balls. And another nice thing – you can pop a new ball in quite easily. Very nice for those of us in the baby boomer generation who are getting longer on age and shorter on strength. 🙂

One warning I spotted while reading reviews is applicable to those who go for long walks on sidewalks or other concrete or granite surfaces. That type of material apparently chews up tennis balls faster than you can say – tennis ball. 🙂 But since these are so easy to replace, that makes these a good option for those situations as well. Perfect for my aging senior, as she also likes to take long walks and is looking forward to them once she feels better.

Isn’t it grand when we can find easy solutions to irritating issues like noisy folding walkers elderly parents appreciate in spite of the noise! Especially when there can be so many difficult issues for those of us in the Sandwich Generation as we are caring for the elderly parents and relatives in our family! I’ve already got a few more great tips for surgery recovery that I’ll be sharing with you in the coming weeks. And if you and your multigenerational caregiving family come up with any great ones, we’d love to hear about them. 🙂