Asolo, I wish I had seen that walker years ago. I think rolling walkers should serve two customers -- the people who actually use them for walking and also the people who have to fold them up and get them in & out of automobiles. From the description, it sounds like your suggestion fits the bill. I'm going to save that info for the next time my mom needs a new walker. Erica, although I think Asolo's suggested walker is great, you might find a trip to a nearby medical equipment store informative. Look in the Yellow Pages to find a couple. Then you can go see some samples of what's available and give them a test ride. And you could practice folding them up. Maybe even measure some and get their weights to help you understand what you'll be dealing with. You could ask all kinds of questions too and get a lot more information. You'd get a better sense of the kind of products available and what would and would not work in your particular situation. You might even find the walker Asolo referred to. Call around to see if a local store carries it. My mom has had three such walkers. The first one we bought did not have hand brakes because my mom was afraid she would never learn how to use them. It braked when she sat down in it. The benefit was that it never rolled out from under her as she was attempting to sit down. That sometimes can be a problem for some people. The disadvantage was that once she sat down, the walker wouldn't move, so I couldn't wheel her at all nor could she scoot herself with her feet. The second walker she had was similar to the rollator you referred to. She somehow managed to figure out how to use the brakes. The advantage to me was that she could sit down and I could roll her a short distance. I usually did that when we couldn't find a handicapped parking space near the entrance to one of her doctors. I'd roll her from the parked car to the entrance and then she'd use her walker on her own to get to the actual office. That walker eventually developed a weird squeak that wouldn't go away no matter how many times the wheels, bearings, etc. were adjusted. I didn't think it was a big deal, but it really embarrassed my mom, so I got her another rollator about a year ago. The ability to easily fold up a walker is important to the one who does most of the transporting. That's why it might be a good idea to see some of these walkers in person and try them out. If you go to a really helpful store, you should be able to test run folding the walker up and getting it into your trunk. You also need to consider how much it weighs. Combine the walker's awkward shape with too much weight and you're looking at back problems for yourself. For what it's worth, I've also got a transport chair for my mom. These chairs do not have the gigantic front wheels of a traditional wheelchair so they're much lighter in weight. The user cannot propel herself by rotating the front wheels with her hands. It's either someone else pushing the chair or the user just scooting herself along with her feet. I only use the transport chair after a visit to the ER or when I know we're going somewhere that would require extensive walking (like a festival). But the thing to note, is that because of its weight and awkward shape, it's even harder for me to deal with. The lifting up and into the trunk and then up and out of the trunk plus pushing my mom around does me in for several days. I much prefer the rolling walker because it's lighter. By the way, I'd take that advice about working with a PT with a grain of salt. Who's to say a PT has all the information on the latest brands and models of walkers out there? The biggest danger is someone not using them correctly. Like forgetting to set the brakes before trying to sit down. Or just using one hand to hang onto them. Or moving way too fast. Good luck with your search.

Interesting how the shopping styles change. Lots of malls around here are having trouble and some have closed but the Mall of America is going strong. It all started in Edina, MN when Southdale Shopping Center opened the first enclosed regional shopping center in the nation. There were certain advantages to the mall concept such as having a number of places to choose your shoes or the like. There'd be various specialty shops, etc. Instead of having someone from housewares come make a key for you, you could talk to a locksmith. When much younger and more willing and able to walk more it was fine, but today I'm not built for malling. There were some smaller malls that did quite well too for a number of years. But then people's shopping habits started to change. The convenience era began. Fast food and fast shopping. One stop and get your turnip seeds, house paint and aspirin in one cart. Walmart, Kmart, Target and more began popping up and Powers, JC Penney, Sears-Roebuck (remember Roebuck?) Montgomery Ward and more began to suffer. Economic ups and downs and malls suffered. People started to prefer specialty stores. Then the traditional mall anchors such as Wards and Sears began to hurt more. Many didn't survive. Add to the problem stores like Kohl's and others I can't recall offhand, have chosen to pull out of the malls and go with freestanding buildings. Some of the malls brought on their own problems. They tried to go cheap. Didn't maintain the building and people didn't like grungy looking places. Leaking roofs didn't help and parking lots that resembled minefields would shoo away people too. Rent is expensive for small tenants and the economic bust of the last near-decade has had its impact too. Many of the malls around here are being bought and replaced with townhouses. One local one, Apache Plaza was developed into a mini village with streets of small shops, plus a Walmart and Cub foods.

Oh the PC police.... There are white foreigners too. And they are often easy to recognize by accents or even manner of dress or behavior."Foreign" is not an insult. Stop trying to make it one. In my local mall, those kiosks are manned by Arabs, with ummistakable Arab accents, are very aggressively trying to sell cheap crap,and pretend to not understand English when you try to tell them to back off. This is not an insult either,before I get jumped on. It's an observation. It's also very obnoxious. I would guess that a great deal of their business is from shy or timid people who are intimidated by their aggressive tactics and are afraid or too polite say no. Once, a woman from one of those kiosks followed me trying to push some skin care. I tried to ignore her until she grabbed my arm and tried to smear something on my face. She got shoved into a fountain. I didn't mean for her to land in the water,but she did and I was glad. She screamed at me that no amount of make up could make me less ugly anyway,then carried on in a stream of what I assume were swears in some language I couldn't place. I and many other people I know have complained to mall management about these people.( meaning the vendors,not "those people" -disclaimer for the PC po po) But they cry racism and that terrifies the owners. Apparently im supposed to be okay with some stranger smearing goo on my face because she's Arab,because presumably I wouldn't have a problem with a white american doing it. Yeah. No.

I still have not gone inside a mall. I honestly don't miss the mall at all. I do need to buy some new bras. I usually buy them online and they're shipped from England (sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much less expensive than the stores here!), but they got lost in the mail. The only store that sells my odd size is Nordstroms. And that's in a mall. And they want close to $100Cdn for ONE bra. Where as I ordered two with matching undies for $167Cdn from England. May just try to reorder them..... Anyway, you don't need to know my underwear dilemma. hahaha I'm avoiding malls for as long as I can. I'm not much for shopping to begin with. I hate clothing shopping with a passion. Some stores here won't let you touch the clothes until you want to try them on. And some store won't let you try them on. Then you have to stand in line just to get into the store, so you're stuck standing outside in the mall waiting to get in. Nope. Not waiting for anything. There's nothing I need that badly.