How-to: Attach a reacher to a walker

File this under “accessorize your surgery”. One of the most useful tools I have found myself using since my back surgery is the “reacher“. This is a device with a handle at one end that can grab things at the other end. As I am in a brace, up all day and should not be bending during the day, I use the reacher all day long. I use it for dressing in the morning, getting my socks out of the drawer, picking up things I drop, and an endless list of other uses. But, one problem came up quickly. What happens when you drop your reacher? Unless you have a backup reacher somewhere, you lose your reach.

So my first add-on for the reacher was a cord to attach it to my walker. My wife went to the hardware store and picked up the shortest coiled phone cord she could find and some velcro tape and velcro straps.

First you’ll want to attach the phone cord to the reacher and the walker, using the velcro strap. The strap is the kind that is used to wrap computer cords and other things. This is not velcro sticky tape. (click on photo for larger image). Then, if you drop the reacher, you can just pull it up using the phone cord. By using the velcro strap, you can easily remove the reacher from the walker when you need to.

Once I had the reacher attached, I realized that I needed to holster it somehow to the walker. Thats where the velcro tape comes in. The velcro tape I used is the kind that comes with 2 strips of self-adhesive – one is the hook and the other is the loop. Here are the steps. Click on a photo to enlarge it.

	Attach velcro tape to the walker on the top side bar.
Â	Attach the velcro tape to the reacher on the end with the handle, on the side that will attach to the walker
Â	Attach the velcro tape to the reacher on the end with the grabber part, on the same side as the velcro on the handle end.
Â	Stick the handle with the velcro against the velcro tape on the top side bar on the walker as show at location B.
Â	Now line up the reacher along the right bottom bar of the walker to see where to put the last velcro tape.
Â	Attach the velcro tape to the walker where the reacher lies across it.

That’s it. You’re done. Smooth sailing!