When your foot cannot touch the floor, your arms and your other leg take over the entire job of moving you. That is the whole problem, and it is why there is no single right answer here — the right device depends on parts of your body that have nothing to do with your foot.
The finding behind this page Medicare covers the device this recovery’s patients most often cannot use, and pays nothing toward either of the two they switch to. Underarm crutches (E0114) are covered and were billed 44,541 times in 2024. The code that covers both a knee scooter and a hands-free crutch (E0118) is not covered at all, and has zero claims.
Medicare’s own descriptor for E0118 names both alternatives in one line — ‘a device strapped to the lower leg with a platform or a device with wheels and a platform the beneficiary propels with their sound limb’. In the 25 patient threads behind this page, crutches were the most-mentioned way of getting around (33 of 49 people) and by far the most complained about; 22 people named a knee scooter and 8 a hands-free crutch, both of which they paid for themselves.
Source: Verified Care Data analysis of CMS DY2024 utilisation, codes E0114 and E0118; Canes and Crutches Policy Article A52459, LCD L33733
So take the choice seriously before surgery rather than after, because you will probably be paying for whatever you actually end up using. Here is what each option demands of you, in the words of people who tried them.
Because this is what you will almost certainly be handed, and the only one of the four Medicare pays toward — but it asks more of your shoulders, wrists and balance than anything else on this page.
01 Crutches
Drive Medical Adjustable Crutches
The default nearly every hospital source names first — and the one Medicare actually pays toward, at $57–$89 a pair.
- ✓AOFAS's own fitting instructions, quoted directly: two fingers under the arm standing, handgrip at the wrist crease — the exact fit check to run before your first walk.
- ✓Euro-style clips plus a pushpin adjust height and handgrip position separately across a 24-inch range (38.5"-62.5"), so most adults skip a separate size purchase.
- ✓HCPCS E0114 — Medicare pays $57.17-$88.73 with a prescription, and this one code carries 44,541 of the roughly 46,000 total crutches claims Medicare paid nationally in 2024, about 31 times every other crutch code combined.
The count: We checked 2 crutch picks for this hub — this push-button Drive Medical pair adjusts height AND handgrip position separately; most single-SKU crutches only adjust one or the other.
One flaw (not a dealbreaker): Underarm soreness is the most common complaint after a few days of steady use — the crutch pads further down this page are the cheap fix, not a reason to skip crutches.
Because it is the alternative people in this hub's research most often switched to — 22 of 49 named one — and the one thing it needs is a knee that tolerates kneeling on it for weeks.
02 The knee scooter
Drive Medical Steerable Knee Scooter
Rest your knee on the pad and roll instead of hobble — the real tradeoff is Medicare pays nothing toward it, while the crutches below cost far less and are covered with a prescription.
- ✓The American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society's own patient site: "You place your knee on the pad and roll yourself forward using handle bars to balance and steer" — named directly as a genuine crutches alternative, not a novelty.
- ✓350 lb weight rating, adjustable knee-pad height (16.5"-20.5") and handle height (31"-40"), removable basket for keeping your hands free.
- ✓Classified under HCPCS E0118 — the same code Medicare uses for the iWALK hands-free crutch further down this page, and E0118 had zero national Medicare claims in 2024.
The count: We've verified 3 knee scooters on this site — this steerable Drive Medical model is the one Palmetto GBA's own PDAC product list classifies as the standard 4-wheel shape most DME suppliers stock, not the all-terrain or budget alternative.
One flaw (not a dealbreaker): Two real recalls exist for this exact product category — a 2012 Invacare rod-collapse issue and an open 2024 Medical Depot tiller-separation recall (neither is this pick) — check any borrowed scooter's brand and model first.
Because this isn't a default for everyone told to stay non-weight-bearing — the manufacturer's own listing draws real lines around who it works for.
03 iWALK hands-free crutch
iWALK 3.0 Hands-Free Crutch
Hands-free and stairs-capable, but the eligibility bar is real — read it before you buy, not after.
- ✓The listing's own eligibility language, not this site's: not recommended for elderly users, anyone with balance or strength limitations, or anyone significantly overweight; best fit is age 55 or under, height 5'2"-6'2", with average-or-better balance and 1-3 days to learn it.
- ✓Classified under the same HCPCS code as the knee scooter above (E0118) — Medicare pays zero toward either one, prescription or not.
- ✓At $144.99 (re-verified live), it costs about 3.6x a basic pair of crutches — the priciest item on this hub, though not the priciest item this site tracks overall.
Because a walker is named by two of the three procedures in this hub's research — Erlanger's own booklet states it flatly for ankle replacement: must use walker after surgery.
04 Walker
Drive Medical Two-Button Folding Walker
Named more often than a knee scooter across this hub's own hospital sources — a secondary mobility device, not the default lead pick.
- ✓Kaiser Permanente lists it alongside crutches and a knee scooter for 6-8 weeks after ankle fusion; Erlanger's own home-safety checklist calls it mandatory for total ankle replacement.
- ✓350 lb capacity, dual push-button height adjustment — the same folding walker Medicare's E0143 code was built around.
Most people end up with more than one. Of the 42 people in this corpus who named any way of getting around, 27 named two or more, and 14 named three or more. They were not indecisive — they were switching by room and by week. One used a knee scooter everywhere except the downstairs shower room, where there was no space to turn it, and kept a frame in there instead. Another used the scooter at night when the boot came off and crutches during the day once it went back on. A third moved from a wheelchair to a scooter to a walker to a cane across three months.
If you can, borrow or try before you commit to the expensive one. Several people in this corpus bought a knee scooter, found their knees could not take kneeling on it, and returned it; one was lent a hands-free crutch by someone on the forum who had finished with theirs.
