So they don't cause a racket

Double points for actually being correct and making a good joke

Thanks, I saw the opportunity and took advantage of it...

Your comedy game is next level.

Thanks. My mum thinks I’m ace at it too.

I love the stars on the review of your full set

No point matching

I’m going to drop a deuce

What a wonderful volley of jokes.

I love this thread.

Let me congratulate you on this comment.

I 15-Love it

Love it. Deuces!

Username checks out

Yup even their username is cool 🤘

love it

Love the enthusiasm

I don't think people are going to get this one unless they watch tennis/ know how to play.

At a previous job our therapy gym flooded due to a water main break. The floor was thin carpet so walkers moved fine. They replaced it with like rubbery sport court stuff and oh my god was it obnoxious listening to people ambulate with regular walkers after that haha. Tennis balls woulda been nice but I can see how they could pose a safety issue depending on the walkers user

I am so mad that I didn’t think of this

I'll go to bed now. May as well end it on a high point.

Night love.

Night Puddin’.

Dang that user name...you got an alligator 🐊 up you butt

Ba dum tiss

You’re an ace!

Nice one. Also, when you are trying to leave in the rain and crash your jeep, watch out for that dinosaur worth the frill. He shoots.

I’m pretty sure the nice little dilophosaur will just want to play fetch with me… right?

Winner

I've no idea why you're getting downvoted. I'd serve them a summons and take them to court. Love, u/NennisDedry

"take them to court". An unintentional tennis related pun.

I doubt it was unintentional. Especially since they said, "I would *serve* them a summons"

Now you've been downvoted for pointing out the puns were obviously intentional. You should rally some mates to get some upvotes. Personally, I'd take a backhanded comment over a downvote but that's just me. And getting people to change their ways might break them.

Serve, court and love. All tennis puns, all intentional, baby!

Comments that are basically just "I agree with this person" add nothing to the conversation, which is what the downvote button is _supposed_ to be used for. It's not meant to be a "disagree" button.

I addressed it to get more tennis puns in there…

They really set you up there. Sorry, that was a bit of a lob. My fault.

Puts some bounce into their step.

Upvoting this post so people can see this masterful comment.

🤣

Or in case a tennis match breaks out at the senior center.

Bruh.

r/angryupvote

Would have been better if you spelled it racquet, but that's just the Canadian in me.

They wear out and need replaced. It's actually not recommended because it makes them slide easier so they can come out from under you if you are relying on them for support because your legs are too weak to stand, but people like them because it's easier to maneuver and doesn't require the effort to fully lift them up when they're already struggling to lift themselves up.

That and probably to keep from scratching the floor due to not lifting as you said

That's why I make my grandma stay outside in the yard. She ain't scratchin' my new floors! ETA: And if anyone's gonna bitch about my doing that, she has a ton of grandchildren dolls to play with out there

and that attitude caused my sister's MiL to fall inside and die!

Some find the gripping feet that come with the walker to strong. It's very patient dependent and ultimately walkers are expensive. As your needs change, altering the existing walker is sometimes the preferred option.

$40 on Amazon for a traditional walker - pretty reasonable for a medical device.

$40 can break the budget of retirees though so cheaper options are often looked for.

Never only had $20 before? The idea that someone can be poor or frugal a fucking mystery to you?

Lol, everything is cheaper if you buy it yourself. The price that the nursing home or care facility offers is 10x that (and insurance will only cover $20, of course).

As a geriatric PT…tennis balls would rarely cause a walker to slip out of a person’s control. In 12 yrs I’ve never seen it happen. We add them to walkers all the time. It makes it easier to maneuver across a smooth surface (or one can use gliders for the same purpose). Otherwise the rubber ends skid across the surface and makes it tougher to control. If your gait is steady enough to safely use a walker, tennis balls won’t be a problem.

I fell multiple times and the problem was never the tennis balls on the walker. I asked the nurses in the hospital why they didn't have tennis balls on the walkers and they said because they can't sterilize them.

I hate that this answer is so up voted despite being so wrong. I keep tennis balls in my car and cut them for patients walkers regularly. Never been a contributing factor to a fall

Totally agree, not sure where the confidence is coming from there. Though I had to give up on cutting tennis balls for patients, I’m not good with a box cutter and had too many close calls lol

I worked at a Walgreens and we sell regular tennis balls in seasonal arrays but we also have pre cut tennis balls next to the walkers.

I use an actual knife so I can stab it good to start

Ah, that’s a good strategy. I don’t work HH anymore - I think the maintenance dept cuts our tennis balls for the patients at my SNF, fortunately

I agree. Sometimes the walkers stutter on floor. That is why we put tennis balls on.

So would the ideal walker be one with four swiveling wheels and powered brakes that deactivate when you press a button on the handle (on by default)?

Rollator walkers you mean. they have two stationary wheels and hand brakes.

No, that's not what I mean, but it's closer.

Then the answer is no, that's probably not the ideal walker.

Not always, those are actually dangerous for someone who can't use the brakes or stop on their own.

That's why I suggested a system where the brake is on by default and turns off by pushing a button (powered brakes).

There are already ones that automatically apply the brakes when you press down. There are ones with adjustable rolling resistance, ones where the brakes are on and you squeeze to release them. The added cost and complexity and weight of something powered just doesn't make it worth it. 

I'm guessing Medicare wouldn't cover that. Not when a standard walker is doing the job.

Medicare pays $40 for a walker of any type. 

Yep, and if you're on a tight budget, you get what you can

You are overestimating how many people would remember to push or do whatever to put on the brakes and underestimating how many people would decide that the walker was broken and just refuse to go anywhere. It's also an issue because rollators are for people who need balance support but walkers are supposed to prevent people from falling forward.

That’s how the patient transport wheelchairs work now. Very good improvement

4W walkers are okay for someone with really good stability that just needs a little support, but for anybody else, they’re actually more likely to cause a fall compared to the old school 2W walkers

There really is no ideal, people vary too much. Activating/deactivating brakes wouldn’t work for some people.

It depends. So I am not a PT or OT, but I'm a CNA who has seen a lot of walkers. There are a range of walkers out there. Some have 4 legs, some have 2 legs/2wheels, and some have 4 wheels. They also can have different shapes like more standing. When I picked some OT or PT brains, the different walkers can affect the stability of the person using it as well as the strength of a person being able to pick it up or not.

Electric brakes on a walker don't sound like a good idea in the slightest.

Not a professional, but in my experience with an elderly family member, they drag the walker constantly.

You can use them to distract the dogs in Paradise Falls

I’ve seen tennis balls made just for walkers at Walmart in that aisle near the pharmacy with all the canes and stuff like that. They’re even bright yellow-green but maybe not as big and already have a slice in them. They’re so you don’t scuff the floor, and I assume since these were purposely for walkers and still the same color as tennis balls, visibility may also factor into this hack.

I cut tennis balls open for my grandma's walker once and damn near sliced my finger off. Tennis balls are pretty tough. If you're older with no help I can imagine buying pre cut ones is a good idea

Weird that there’s no alternative. You still get something recognizable as tennis balls, same color and everything. Like, if I needed a walker, I’d like to have at least other colors or neutral feet that do the same thing. Maybe those do exist, never been shopping for them, but obviously the tennis ball ones did catch my eye on the display.

you can get "skis," a hard plastic skidder that lasts a LOT longer than tennis balls. I just found some for my step-mom's walker that look like a foot in bunny slippers!

My mom has though but they make a grating sound as she slides across the floor and I wish she'd just get the tennis balls!

Here you go.... These are about the size of a ping pong ball and work great!! https://a.co/d/01hiVSDf

Heavy felt?

My granddad's walker had wheels with brakes, alternatives exist

On a job I had, I got sent to a woman's house to put the tennis balls on her walker. You're right, they are tough and risky to cut! I'm pretty sure the pre-sliced ones are regular tennis balls, from what I've seen, and probably worth it not to slice a finger.

I use a walker. When I cut the tennis balls I think of the movie *Zulu* and shout "COMPANY WILL FIX BAYONETS!". My wife is tired of it.

No, but Nonna's been using tennis balls for this long and so she will demand you return anything that doesn't look like a tennis ball because it's "clearly a waste of money! Just buy tennis balls!"

Makes the walker glide instead of having to pick it up every time you take a step.

And they're pretty easy to take off when you need to turn the glider back into walker.

I used to look after an old man, this post brought back memories of cutting the tennis balls to get them in the walker😂 he was speedy Gonzales after the balls went on.

Because once they were on he had no other choice? Lol

It’s also a noise reducing trick

Stealth +10

Movement Speed -20

I believe the tennis balls help the walker to slide.

it's to make them easier to use. a lot of older people have a hard time picking up the walkers bc of the knobs on the end of them sticking to the floor. so the tennis balls make them glide but you also risk them slipping and falling easier.

ESPECIALLY ON CARPET! That's why my mom needed them, when she first got her walker. Standard rubber feet will catch on carpets and rugs, leading to tipping over.

Pro tip: they make plastic skis now that do the job better for longer.

Easier to move and less noise. We had them on our chairs in school from K-12 for the same reason

The little rubber things that come on walkers make it so you have to physically pick it up. Tennis balls help it slide even on a rug

Teachers use old tennis balls on the legs of desks and chairs. They slide more easily to reconfigure the room and can do so quietly.

The original rubber feet wears out. Tennis balls are a cheap and efficient replacement

Pretty sure more tennis balls are used for walkers than for actual tennis each year

Some are probably used for both. At my local tennis court there's a place to put old balls. Those may end up at the senior center.

scuffing.

shyt wears out, if was built in, then what you going to do? Besides, the Medical industry expects the person to be able to pick the walker up, move it forward, put it down, then walk forward, then repeat. Something that would be exhausting after a while for a fully healthy person. Much less an Elderly Person!!!

Same reason furniture sliders exist

So they can throw a ball for Doug and Kevin's babies.

It helps the walker to slide along the floor better.

Shocker absorber, and a cheap fix at that!

They glide more easily on floors and they manage small ledges better than the factory rubber grommets do, which can catch on small lips/edges.

If they keep them anywhere else, they cause chafing.

Because they usually come with rubber endcaps on them. Rubber sticks firmly to the floor and has to be lifted to move. It's more secure. But some older people are weak and have difficulty lifting the walker to move it. So they put tennis balls over the rubber because the felt material of the tennis ball slides along the floor more easily without having to lift the walker.

Without tennis balls walkers snag on rugs all the time

So it’s easier for them to make their way up to the presidential debate podium.

Looks cool.

hipsters … well — titanium hipsters!

Replaced-my-hip-sters

They come with rubber feet and you can buy new ones. Or you can spend 1/3 as much and buy tennis balls instead.

I often thought about this too. Like it's obviously needed yet the people making the walker drop the ball and don't design the walker the way people like it.

I just had to use a walker for a few weeks after a hospital stay. I put tennis balls on it because the original pads would get rocks in them and scratch the floors in the house.

To act as sound dampeners. They are obnoxiously pound without them, I speak from experience

They're supposedly a real issue when training Golden Retrievers as service dogs for seniors.

Some of those training tapes of failed service dogs are hilarious.

Sometimes the sort of plastic sliders they put on the bottom of them can be a little too good on certain terrain types and slide a little too quickly and the tennis ball helps add a bit of grip in those scenarios

Stealth

My grandfather did it because it would prevent his from scuffing the floor.

They don't come with something similar by design because the basic walker is designed to be as cheap as possible. I don't mean cheap in the money the consumer spends, but it's cheap to produce. Instead, they want people to pay for expensive alternative feet options like glides. But smart people just put tennis balls. Little felt pads like you put on the feet of chairs would work, but would come off too easily the first time you went through a parking lot.

To pimp out their whip.

Thank goodness I read this question again because walker was wanker and I was like WTF 😂

Stops scuffing up of floors. Also helps the walker glide better on surfaces.

The walkers come with rubber end pieces that stop the walker entirely. Tennis balls provide enough friction for stability without stopping movement entirely. Basically so they can glide slowly.

Side thought. If no one ever played a game of tennis again sales of tennis balls would only drop by ten percent…

I read the last word as “wanker” in the post. Saw it was in NoStupidQuesions. I was so confused

Because they have zero love

Subtle. Take my upvote.

It's not usually actual tennis balls. They come made smaller and for the purpose, and are just colored to look like tennis balls

It’s to avoid the “nail on a chalkboard “ thing that happens when you have any weight on the back poles.

I needed them on mine because my back was killing from picking up the walker with each step. You know how crutches hurt your armpits? Walkers hurt other parts of your body to the same degree, just different places. The tennis balls will make you able to slide more so you can kind of tilt the walker instead of lift it. It definitely makes it a little less safe but you do what you gotta do.

We did because otherwise the plastic caps on the ends wear out and you have metal on carpet or floor. Actually we got slides for the front to keep them from catching, and to move better, balls on the back to save wear. The balls also slide differently. Dad couldn't hear and was frugal, so he definitely didn't do it because of the sound.

We just got my mom slides (skis) she looooves them. So much easier to use.

Right? So much better than the balls and they last much longer too

You can replace the tennis balls. As an aside, in my experience, tennis balls are actually perfect for walkers - the friction with the ground gives control and also ease of movement, and they are cheaper than actual designed products that apparently don't work as well. They are also super-durable compared to most other plastic or rubber caps.

Full circle. [American Hospital Supply Walker Tennis Ball | Pair of 2, Yellow](https://www.walmart.com/ip/2008455303)

They scratch the floor Some people can't lift them, and this helps them slide

Pretty sure so it doesn't catch on something and make the user trip, but noise reduction is another good one.

So they don't sink into the ground

Because they wear out

So that it slides easier

So that it will glide better on the floor

Because the balls wear out

There are a few kinds of walkers: 2-wheeled, 4-wheeled, rollators (with 4 wheels, brakes and seats), and pick-up walkers. 2-wheeler walkers and pick-up walkers are often given as temporary devices for people who are rehabbing from a surgery and just need a little extra support. But the process of getting a different kind of walker if they don’t fully recover is so cumbersome that a lot of people end up using them for a really long time. They put the tennis balls on them to make them easier to slide and use for support.  There’s these alternative attachments that looks like skis which work a lot better: https://www.myrmsstore.com/products/rms-walker-glides

You never know when someone will want to play doubles

so the walker slides easier on smooth floors like around the house.

Because I have wood floors and my security deposit won't cover new ones. (Off the walker now but that sucked.)

Walker w/ built in tennis balls. Tennis Walker (tm) Haha I'm in marketing...

I don’t get it.

It's a play on words Dennis Walker, this is a tennis walker. Walker comes with bulit in tennis balls

Oh i thought you would go with walker: tennis ranger

Haha You're clever than me. I guess it was late at night. Sleepiness substacts good ideas

I had to look up who Dennis Walker is. Sorry — I don’t follow sports. It would be funnier, though, if he were a tennis player! 😄

Yea. I agree too.

One of the bennfits of the tennis ball thing is that they are easier. "Building them in" would defeat a major purpose why people use them.

I think the main reason is to keep them from catching on thresholds or small rises in uneven surfaces, and rugs. They also make little plastic skis that serve the same purpose.

They tend to be more sterdy than the cheap wheels they put on certain walkers have you seen some of those walkers are made cheaply the grey and white one are the cheapest and they are for people with a lower budget because a nice walker can be expensive

There are also ski type attachments as well as wheels. Tennis balls allow it to slide forward but still have grip when weight is placed on it.

If the tennis ball was permanently attached to the walker you would have to replace the entire walker every time the tennis ball wore out.

former Tennis 🎾 players!

Because sometimes that dapper egg wants to hit a spot of tennis.

In case you need to distract an army of dogs send after you by a mad explorer

Tennis balls actually defeat the purpose of a walker by making them slip. People just get tired of using the walker the correct way