360 Walker Boot Short is a health hazard!
I was issued a 360 Walker Boot Short by my Dr. when I had ankle surgery. There were numerous problems with the boot, and I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT FOR USE! Specifically: 1. The inflation button is centered on the front at top, which made it almost impossible to use a knee scooter. 2. I got a bad case of trench-foot from using this! I was told to leave the boot in place for at least 2-3 weeks, which I did. That was a BIG mistake. The liner to the boot is foam filled with an inflatable plastic innertube of sorts. As such, my leg and foot sweated a LOT, and because there was no air-flow or drying mechanism, the heal of my foot was damaged by trenchfoot. This caused nerve damage and pain that was in addition the pain of the surgery, etc. Fortunately, that has now healed, but another week and it would have been permanent. 3. The straps and support configuration is horror to manipulate and set. 4. The 'rolling' heel caused more pain than not when I tried to walk on the boot. If I walked flat footed, it was okay; but the curved heel made that hard and so it caused less pain to walk without it (once I was allowed to remove it) than with it. Because of the above, I ended up cutting the tops of the boot down to make it more bearable. I also removed the inner liner, the inner tube, and the inflation button and I cut a hole in the heel area for ventilation. That made it tolerable and actually usable w/ the knee scooter, and helped my foot heel from the trenchfoot damage. BL: I suppose this is better than a cast, but frankly, IMOP, this is one of the worst, least human-friendly designs I could imagine. Which said, I eill NEVER use another of their products if I have any other choice at all.
By N L.