# which grip style?



## crankle (Apr 14, 2013)

Hi all,

I broke my ankle last June. A bad, compound, nasty, shattered fibula and tib broken, too. I am healing well, thanks be! This has, of course, included lots of hard work and ongoing testing of the boundary between what makes me stronger and what sets me back. Stats: age 60, height 5'4", weight 125lbs. I have always been a very active, and this summer I will be doing the Dingle Way (Ireland - walking vacation) with some friends. I am prepared to use a bicycle rather than walking the 8-15 miles per day. However, I had an opportunity to test out a bit more hiking this past week and was pleased to be able to do short (3 miles max) hikes without feeling like I was doing the ankle more harm than good. I think I can do bits of the Dingle on foot and still use the bicycle prn. I used a pair of average trekking/walking/hiking poles/sticks and found I was able to use them to good advantage. I could tell because on the second day when I set out I realized my tricep muscles had been well worked the day before! I hope that included lots of my weight, not just gripping and planting hard....

My question (thanks for reading the above novel) is, would I be better off with a cane style grip or the traditional vertical grip? I just wonder if I could bear more weight on the sticks with the cane style grip. My current poles have a lot of miles on them and I am ready for a new pair. They need to be the telescoping type, I have no interest in making a fashion statement with them, I may want to add a rubber tip to use them in the city as well for getting from pub to pub B) (haha). Any advice will be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Crankle


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## Sean (Dec 29, 2012)

Sorry to hear of your injury! That must have been nasty to have done what it did. I remembered seeing some of these once when I

was searching for my trekking poles and thought I'd send you a link. You may already be aware of these but if not would they offer

what your looking for?

If I was on the mend and needed a cane for my activities on level ground I might be tempted to buy 'one' of these and carry it

alongside with my more traditional pole as I'm thinking you'd probably only need to be walking with one cane occasionally?

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hiking-camping-AntiShock-Walking-Pole-Trekking-Stick-Crutches-Y638/492016559.html


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## JJireh (Feb 7, 2013)

I think it really comes down to form and strength. Vertical grips are easier on the wrists and fore arms using more shoulder and triceps, you should have a longer pole for more leverage. Cane grips cause more of a stiff arm, less on triceps and shoulders more on wrists and forearms, you have a shorter pole and you tend to lean left and right depending on where you are trying to support. It boils down to what you are comfortable with for long spurts. I would imagine vertical being a bit easier...


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