Hands-Free Crutch for Leg & Knee Support

Hands-free knee crutch, black, left or right leg

A crutch you wear on the injured leg, so your hands and your good leg do the walking

You kneel your injured leg onto a padded platform, strap the shin and the thigh in, and the crutch stands on the floor beneath your bent knee like a peg leg. Your weight goes through your knee and shin instead of your foot and ankle, and the leg that is hurt hangs behind you, off the ground. Nothing is in your hands. That is the whole idea, and it is either exactly what you need or not for you at all.

It is built for one situation: a below-the-knee injury on one leg, where you have been told to keep your weight off that lower leg, and the rest of you is healthy enough to carry the load. Underarm crutches tie up both hands. A knee scooter is wide, does not do stairs and needs a hand on the bars. This does neither of those things, at the price of a learning curve you should plan for.

What we will and will not say about it

This category is sold with a lot of medical language. Ours is short and stays inside what the crutch physically does.

It takes your weight off the injured lower leg and leaves your hands free. That is a mechanical fact about how it is worn, and it is the reason to buy it.
It makes no promise about your recovery. We do not claim it heals anything faster, improves any outcome, or is suited to any particular diagnosis. Whether you should be off that leg, and for how long, is between you and your clinician.
It is a crutch, not a treatment. It is in the same family of walking aids as a pair of underarm crutches. It is not cleared or approved for any medical purpose and we do not present it that way.
It works for one leg only. Your other leg has to stand, step and balance on its own, every single stride.
It takes practice. Plan on a few days of getting used to it, indoors, before it feels natural. Budget for that before you rely on it.

Check these things before you order

A hands-free crutch is not for everyone with a bad ankle. Be honest with yourself on each of these; the crutch cannot make up for any of them.

Your uninjured leg carries your full weight and you can stand on it alone, comfortably, without holding anything.

Your injured knee bends to a right angle without pain, so your shin can lie flat on the platform with your foot pointing behind you.

Your balance and strength are good. You could walk up and down stairs without a handrail before you were hurt.

Talk to your clinician before buying if any of these apply to you: balance problems or vertigo, poor circulation, medication that affects alertness or balance, a hip or knee replacement, restricted movement in the hip or knee, a knee condition that makes kneeling painful, arthritis or pain in the legs, hips or back, or ongoing lower back pain. If you have any doubt about using it safely, ask first.

Fit: two spring-pin adjustments and one leg to choose

The crutch adjusts in two places, each on a spring pin you press and slide, with no tools. The thigh section sets how far the cuff sits above the knee platform; the calf section sets how far the platform sits above the floor. The numbers below are the supplier's, read from their own diagram, US units first.

Thigh section

12 to 18.1 in (30.5 to 46 cm)

Calf section

13.8 to 20.1 in (35 to 51 cm)

User weight

Up to 220 lb (100 kg), supplier rating

Crutch weight

About 4.4 lb (2 kg), supplier figure

Before you order, measure the injured leg while seated with the knee at a right angle: from the top of the shin, just below the kneecap, to the floor should fall inside the calf range, and from the groin to the top of the shin inside the thigh range. If either measurement falls outside its range, this crutch will not fit you and you should not buy it.

Choose the leg. The crutch is set up for one leg at the supplier, with the platform and foot oriented for that side. Pick Left Leg or Right Leg to match the injured leg.

The supplier does not publish a height range or a thigh circumference, so we do not print one. The weight rating is the supplier's; nobody here has load-tested a unit against it. Treat it as a ceiling, not a target.

Putting it on, and the first few days

Sit down. Set the calf section so that, with your knee bent, the platform meets your shin, and set the thigh section so the cuff sits high on your thigh. Press each pin and slide until it clicks.

Lay your shin on the platform with the foot pointing back, close the two shin straps snug, then close the thigh strap. Loosen the straps rather than fighting them; they should hold, not squeeze.

Stand up beside a wall or with someone next to you. Take short steps, put the crutch down as if it were your foot, and keep your first sessions inside on a flat floor.

Stairs come later. The crutch can be used on stairs once you are steady on the flat, but only with a handrail, and only once you are genuinely confident. Do not make a staircase your first outing.
If you are in a cast or a boot, a folded towel between it and the platform pads the fit.
Check the pins and the straps before every use. Both pins should be fully clicked through their holes and the foot should sit flat on the ground.
Not for ladders, wet slopes or ice. It is a walking aid for flat ground and, with care, stairs. Nothing else.

What it is made of, as far as we can say

A matte black aluminum-alloy frame, by the supplier's description: two slim tubes running from the thigh cuff down to the knee platform, and a single telescoping post below the platform braced by two thin outrigger struts that bolt to the foot with wing nuts. The knee platform is a rigid tray with a foam pad the supplier describes as EVA, two wide hook-and-loop shin straps and a padded side bolster. The thigh cuff is padded with one wide strap. The foot is a small rubber pad with a red tread.

We hold no materials declaration beyond the supplier's listing, so nothing more specific is printed here. Earlier copy on this page described the pads and the adjustment in words borrowed from another maker's product; that wording has been removed rather than repeated.

What arrives

One hands-free knee crutch, configured for the leg you chose, with the foot and outrigger struts attached. Assembly is setting the two pins to your measurements and closing three straps; no tools are needed. No carry bag, no spare pads and no second unit. The kitchen, living room, street and clothing in the photographs are styling and do not ship.

Who should not buy this

Anyone whose injury is above the knee, or in the knee itself. The crutch loads the knee and shin; it cannot be used if kneeling on that leg hurts.
Anyone with two injured legs, or a good leg that cannot bear full weight on its own.
Anyone outside the fit ranges above. It does not adjust beyond them.
Anyone who wants to skip the learning curve. The first day is awkward for almost everyone. If you need to be steady on day one, underarm crutches or a knee scooter are the safer choice.
Anyone shopping for a medical result. It changes how you get around while you are off the leg. It does not change what is happening inside the leg.