We have been fortunate enough to have a special guest blogger for the next two weeks! Meet Laura: Laura Harrison has Rheumatoid Arthritis and was diagnosed at age 16. She has had many hip surgeries/replacements, injection therapies, and hand surgeries. Her experience with RA led to the creation of her company, Crutch Caps, Inc. Together Harrison and her mother developed several products when they were unable to find padding for crutches that provided true pain-relief. Prior to that, Harrison was a local art teacher. This is her story
Finding a silver lining is the only way to get through some things, and for me, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been one of those things.
When I was sixteen, I was an active teenager, with serious opportunities to play college basketball. That all changed with my diagnosis of RA.
My journey with RA has included a lot of time on crutches, and it didn’t take long for me to learn how painful crutches can be. My mom tried to find something to buy to reduce my pain, but at that time there wasn’t anything on the market. My wrists, hands and armpits were constantly sore, making a bad situation worse.
In addition to the pain, I didn’t appreciate the looks I got from people while using crutches. People felt sorry for me and didn’t see me – they just saw my crutches.
Luckily my mom has always been creative and resourceful. She sought out therapeutic foam and created pads for my crutches. We picked out fabric to cover them that reflected my style. I decided if everyone was going to stare at my crutches I wanted them to see something fun and cheerful, something that would immediately give them the feeling that I was going to be okay.
Finally, I had something that gave me true pain relief from my crutches. I also got compliments on my crutch pads everywhere I went and people always wanted to know where they could get them.
It wasn’t until an appointment at the Mayo clinic that we realized we had something special. My doctor saw my crutch pads and was impressed. He told my mom she should start a business with them so others could benefit from the pain relief and comfort they provided.
I eventually replaced sports with art, and was fortunate to have a career as an art teacher until my RA forced me to retire. By that time, my mom had also retired. As an adult, I continued to occasionally require crutches and other mobility aids due to RA related surgeries and treatments. That’s when my Mayo doctor’s suggestion took hold.
By this time there were crutch pads on the market but I quickly learned they didn’t work anywhere near as well as my mom’s. We went back to the crutch pads she created and worked to find the most therapeutic, high-‐density, latex free foam, and paired it with fun, modern, stylish fabric (happy fabrics are a priority). We patented our crutch pads, and started a business called Crutch Caps, Inc.
Crutch Caps sells underarm pads for crutches, crutch handle grip pads and crutch bags. After demand from our customers, we recently launched our mobility aids handle grip pads and bags. These provide comfort and convenience for those using walkers, rollators, knee rollers, scooters and wheelchairs. Having spent time on many mobility aids myself, I know many of us progress from one type of mobility device to another on our medical journeys.
Crutch Caps, Inc. has been a silver lining of RA to me. It’s given me a unique opportunity to work with my mom (as much as my body allows) and channel my creativity while having the satisfaction of helping others.
For more information on crutchcaps: www.crutchcaps.com