Robbins Grips

If you are on crutches for an extended time and your hands are hurting, guess what.  They don't have to.  That is why the Robbins Grips were invented.  When I was a substitute teacher several years ago there was a girl in the fifth grad who was walking on crutches down the aisle with a friend.  The girl was in tears and told her friend "My hands are killing me."  That was when I decided to see what I could do with the crutch handles I had made for myself when I was on crutches and it felt as if my hands would kill me.

The Robbins Grips are ergonomically made so that your body weight is on the palm of the hand and not between the thumb and first finger. Place the grip at the level that is most comfortable for you and your hands will feel much better.  I still wonder about that little fifth grade girl, and would like to know if she now has arthritis in her hands.  I am sure that is what caused me to have arthritis in my hands.

Recent Developments

We’ve found it – a material that will not crack or break. 

To make sure, I placed a grip made from it in boiling water for 10 minutes, immediately put the grip in the freezer and left it overnight.  The next morning I placed the grip on my garage floor and beat it with a hammer. I could not even make a scratch. Just to make sure, I went through the entire process again.  THIS MATERIAL WILL NOT BREAK.  

Its present use is about 3,000 feet down in oil wells. Drillers were having trouble with a part breaking.  At that depth it was expensive and time consuming to replace.  Therefore this product was developed. It’s hard to get and so far we have only been able to purchase it in black and cream color, but cream color is scarce, so most of our grips are now only in black.  As more products start being made of this material I think it will be available in colors. 

Now, we are trying to find a suitable material for a pad.  Don’t give up.  We will find it.

Another Grateful Customer

We recently received a letter from a man telling us he was ordering a pair of our new grips.  He said he had been on crutches for over 30 years and after shoulder surgery was having pain due to pressure at the base of his thumb on the opposite hand.  He had doubts our grips would help relive this pain, but decided to order a pair of our closeout grips rather than replace his standard rubber grips which routinely wear out.  After installing and using one of the Robbins Grips, he found the weight distribution over his palm truly relived the pressure on his thumb.  He was so impressed he wrote us and told us we “had made a great product!” and ordered a pair of the newer grips made from the strengthened material.

It is really nice to have someone tell you that you have “made a great product!”  Even though we have heard that before it is always good to hear again.  If you use crutches and your hands are hurting, maybe you should give a pair of Robbins Grips a try.

Good News We are back on track!

Some time ago we were forced to change manufacturers.  In the process we changed not only manufacturer, but also manufacturing method.  We moved from rotational molding to injection molding for our grips.  This also meant a drastic change of material.  Before implementing the change, we had the grips lab tested and certified.  Regrettably, it turned out that once in service some of the grips did not hold up to the standards needed.  Though they would not break, some of the grips did, after use, start to show evidence of cracking.  We put production on hold until a solution could be found.

We are very pleased to say that a new, stronger material has put us back on track.  Through more testing and in service use by several of our full time crutch users we are pleased to be back in production.

Currently we are limited in colors and only have creamy white and black.   However, we hope to have pink, blue and possibly granite before long.

We are still offering a few pair of our original rotational molded grips at a discounted price. Several of our customers have used those continually since we originally went on the market, and been grateful  to have them.  Indeed, it is input from these uses that has allowed us to refine and improve our grips over the years. 

We enjoy hearing from our customers and take all feedback seriously, and strive to make a product that keeps every user happy.  

Orange or Turquoise Grips

I am trying to do better and post on the blog more often.  Sometime days either don't have enough hours or else I just blow them.  However, in packaging the other day, I found several pairs of crutch grips that are not one of our standard colors.  A few reds are more of a Texas University orange.  For people wanting red, orange simply will not work.  Some of the blues evidently have green mixed in.  They came out a beautiful aqua, turquoise - whatever you want to call blue/green.  If any of you would prefer either of those colors, call or email and I will tell you how to get the color you wish.  The grips themselves are the same, and the colors are very pretty. 


I guess it is little things like this that keep us on our toes, or maybe take up a lot of our time.  I hope all of you have a good day.

Still here in 2014

It has been awhile since I wrote a new blog and I will try to do better.  Sometimes business gets in the way of things that need to be done, and I get lax.  We are still working on the walker grip.  Recently, I underwent my 7th total knee revision and while in rehab I used my walker grip prototype.  Now I know what changes need to be made and hopefully within the next year things will come together.

Thanks for the really good comments you have sent on the crutch hand grip.  It is a pleasure to hear that they help so many people with hurting hands.

More Changes on the way

March 4, 2011

I’m sorry I’ve been so long in adding to this blog, but several things have come up that we didn’t expect.

First, there have been many requests for forearm crutch hand grips. We hoped that the hand grip for walkers would work on forearm crutches, but the angle is not right. Also we found that our prototype for the walker grip needed to be changed. Before we could take care of that problem, we found that we needed a new supplier for the crutch grips. Since we had planned a slight change anyway, we decided to go with an injection molder.

At this point we now have improved on our crutch grip – again – and will put the new grips on the market in April, 2011. They will be world class, beautiful hand grips. I am excited about this improvement. If those of you who have our old crutch hand grips will contact us, we will make you a very nice offer on a new pair. I think you will be pleased.

The new ones have an inlay on top that feels like skin, which will make them much more comfortable. The new picture is of the prototype. At present, we plan for the new grips to have a clear base with a colored overlay, so you can still have colors. Walking on crutches is not fun, but these will make it much more pleasant.