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- A "walking stick" may also refer to the stick insect, which uses camouflage to resemble a stick or twig.
1) Hemiplegic and balance-impaired persons use the stick to give them a better sense of the vertical position. Without the stick, it is easily to walk at an angle, and perhaps not move in a straight line. The stick is held by the hand which is stronger.
2) Muscle-weaked persons (strength or nerve-impulsed) need a stronger weight-bearing stick to take some of the load normally used by the weaker leg. The stick is held by the hand of the weakened leg.
Walking sticks are used for hikers who use them for a wide variety of purposes: to clear spiderwebs that have been built across the trail, to part thick bushes or grass obscuring the trail, as a support when going uphill or a brake when going downhill, as a balance point when crossing streams, swamps or other rough terrain, to feel for obstacles in the path, to test mud and puddles for depth, and as a defense against wild animals.
Also serving this purpose are walkers, which are held in front of the user and allow them to lean heavily on it.
Accessories
The most common, before or after purchase/ manufacture, is a hand strap, to pervent loss of the stick when the hand releases its grip. The most common factory-made accessory is a "Table-stand" to stand it thick against the top of a table.
Other stick modifications include replacing worn out parts: handles and ground-contact tips. Often the handles of the sticks are too small for large hands, so after-market customizations are needed.
See also
- Cane
- Phasmatodea, an order of insects many of which are commonly known as "walking sticks".
External links
- Walking-Stick Papers (Robert Cortes Holliday, 1918) - Project Gutenberg ebook
- Self-Defence with a Walking Stick (Pearson’s Magazine,January 1901)
"Walking stick"