Imagine a weekend of yard work foreshortened by a fall

that breaks your heel. Even if the impact hasn’t catapulted you onto the operating table, you can expect 13 or so weeks on crutches. During that tedious and painful period any typical weekend warrior would focus on recuperating, and on performing basic tasks with impaired mobility. After Jeff Weber’s own garden mishap five years ago, however, the Minneapolis native set out to redesign crutches, easing that adaptation to day-to-day life.

If down, Weber couldn’t have been more up for the task. By 2005 the industrial designer had already logged 17 years with the ergonomics legend Bill Stumpf, best known for Herman Miller’s Aeron chair. “Bill really made me empathetic,” Weber says. “Having a physical experience produces a profound realization. In fact, as I’ve matured as a designer I tend to not even have a stylistic preconceptions.” For the Embody chair, which Herman Miller launched in 2008, for example, Weber conducted two years of research with neurologists, a physical therapist, chiropractors, and other medical specialists, and then numerous human trials.

Within two days of being issued his crutches, “I was experiencing secondary trauma related to the crutch interface,” he says. Jamming the crutches under his arms caused nerve compression and reduced blood flow, desensitizing his hands. “Then there’s skin irritation inside the trunk, under the arm, and on your hands. Then there’s the loading on the wrist; the handgrips force your wrist to the end of its range of motion.” Though his symptoms subsided ultimately, Weber learned that prolonged crutch use could have caused permanent arterial damage. “Within two days I made the determination that this aid actually was preventing me from being mobile. People aren’t conditioned to walk on their arms.”

Weber devoted the same energy to solving this problem as he did the Embody chair. He describes the outset of that journey: “Ambulation is the key to recovery, because it increases blood flow. We began with the hypothesis that crutches that do not encourage mobility increase convalescence time and diminish the quality of convalescence.”

Besides redesigning the crutch user’s recovery process for mobility, Weber’s team introduced the criterion of preventing secondary trauma. Whereas traditional crutches produce “an all-out assault on your body,” he sought an alternative that neutralizes the wrist joint, directs pressure into the meatiest part of the palms, and a solution for minimizing pressure and sweat in the armpits.

Weber says he translated the human anatomy, biomechanics, and material-science lessons of Embody to this project. Again, though, Weber would not finalize any decision without the help of guinea pigs, which included himself. “There was a lot of trial and error, and many, many, many prototypes,” he recalls.

The results: adjustable cantilevered grips that reflect the natural drape of human hands; height-adjustable legs whose slight crease provide clearance for one’s hips; and rocker feet that absorb the shock of stride. Called mobilegs, the design uses 42 percent less aluminum and 30 percent less plastic than the standard that Weber grimaced through. And since the best features of Weber’s prototypes had to be reconciled to commercial viability, he created a slightly more expensive version of mobilegs whose arm supports are rendered in breathable mesh, among other premium highlights.

Approximately 10 million pairs of crutches are distributed within the U.S. any given year. Weber launches mobilegs this month, and he’s confident that his first run of 2,600 units will be absorbed into that marketplace quickly and enthusiastically. Consumers may be attracted to the crutches’ sporty look, their pure functionality—or perhaps their celebrity affiliation. When Alex Wong went into surgery for a lacerated Achilles tendon, Weber’s team sent a pre-market pair of mobilegs to the beloved So You Think You Can Dance contender. The ballet dancer responded with tremendous gratitude and, Weber says, some solid feedback that may be manifested in the second shipment.

Find out more at mobilegs