Featuring Dr. Gretchen
Physical Therapist & MS Specialist
Dr. Gretchen Hawley is a Physical Therapist and MS Specialist from New York, USA. She has devoted her life to help people living with MS to take back control and feel strong when the MS shows its teeth. Dr. Gretchen is constantly updating and helping people who struggles with their mobility through her social platforms, with practical work-outs and research-based education.
Unboxing the rollators
Follow along when Dr. Gretchen unboxes byACRE’s lightweight rollators and learn form her tips and tricks and exercises.
Staying active is a mantra that both Dr. Gretchen and byACRE advocate. In the video below you can watch Dr. Gretchen unbox the Carbon Ultralight lightweight walker and demonstrate helpful exercises with the rollator.
How does our toughest rollator arrive?
Have a look when Dr. Gretchen unbox the Carbon Overland off road walker and shares her first impressions!
What makes an indoor rollator so special?
See Dr Gretchen’s first reaction to the differences in the design of our Scandinavian Butler indoor rollator!
How to set the handles to the perfect height
Our rollator come in a quite unique, new design, with the handles turned in the opposite direction compared to traditional rollators. This changes the way you are supposed to hold the rollator, and how you set the handle height.
Physio therapists recommend that one measures the distance from the floor to the wrist to assess the best height for the handles.
In this video, Dr. Gretchen show us how that is done!
A comparison between Carbon Ultralight and Carbon Overland
Our light weight and foldable rollators Carbon Ultralight and Carbon Overland are quite similar and might look alike, but have a few differences. Here, Dr Gretchen shows some of the major differences on the design.
Talk with MSing Link member
Gretchen sat down with one of her MSing link members, who use our Carbon Ultralight rollator, and talked about life with a rollator. You can read the interview right here.
How does using a rollator make you feel?
More stable and confident.
When did it first occur to you that you needed a rollator?
I never considered a rollator before discovering byACRE, because others I had tried at physical therapy worked so poorly.
What feelings and thoughts did you have about it?
It looked easy to use, it looked light and super well designed… basically, everything I had been looking for in a rollator but had never found until I saw the Carbon Ultralight.
What reactions do you get from others when walking with a rollator?
Because I acquired mine recently, and during the pandemic, I haven’t been around many people while using it. When I have taken it to medical appointments, I like it that others are more patient with my slowness and have given me the appropriate space to maneuver.
What does it enable you to do that you couldn’t otherwise do?
Inside the house it has allowed me to stop wall-surfing. After the pandemic I am hoping it gives me more freedom to go out.
What criteria are important when choosing a rollator? Why?
Being ergonomically correct and enhancing your posture while improving your mobility; being light, and easy for others to move; being visually attractive, not an eyesore.
How to safely put a rollator in the car
Dr. Gretchen wouldn’t be a specialist if she did not know how to cover each part of the daily life, and what struggles one might face. She knows that putting a rollator in a car can be both challenging and nerve racking. Therefore, she has given us these tips for how to di it, and with a video to show what it means practically!
- Stand as close to the car as possible
- Put the rollator brakes on
- Change your stance so you feet are not in the way of the wheels
- Squat down using your legs (not rounding your back) as you grab for the center of the rollator
- Lift the rollator up and place in the car without moving your feet (you should feel stable)
To take the rollator OUT of the car, reverse the steps above!
Follow Dr. Gretchen on social media
Dr. Gretchen is very active on her social media channels where she constantly updates with tips and tricks for a healthier MS-life style. Follow her accounts to take part!
