Emergency crutches

[dipbait]

Ive been laid up the last few days , having to use crutches because of an old ankle injury. It got me thinking, how difficult would it be to fashion some crutches in a wilderness situation? Armed with only a knife and clothing . Ive been pondering how to go about this. One idea, is to use the elastic, cut in half, from underwear to secure crutch to arms. Have any of you guys ever made a set of crutches?

 

[A.W.U.K.]

It might be easier to make the old-fashioned type of crutch, where the armpit is supported by a fork. You could use clothing to pad the fork.

 

[c00per]

I once made a makeshift crutch for a friend whilst we were out camping, she had hurt her foot.

What I did was get a length of wood long enough, tie some cord around it close to the bottom and split the wood down to the cord. I then wedged it open with a piece of wood long enough for your hand to reach, and lashed the two top pieces to a piece of wood split in half for the armpit.
Here is a crude drawing - there are three pieces of wood total, two going horizontally and one split down the middle:

It worked well until it dried, it seemed to warp a little as my lashings came loose but it did the job until we got home

 

[myright]

I don't think it would be that hard at all.

I was actually thinking about it not too long ago when I jacked my back up a bit. It got me thinking about how I would handle myself out and about if I needed to get back to civilization how would I do it.

I think a cane would be much easier to create than crutches though.