Guide

Parallel bars: how to set the rail height and width for gait training

The clinical set-up of parallel bars — rail height to the wrist crease, clear width a hand outside the hips, and the step-on, walk and turn sequence — from a manufacturer that builds them.

Parallel bars are the most-used piece of equipment in most rehabilitation rooms and the most often set up wrong. The settings take thirty seconds and change whether a patient gets useful gait practice or hangs off the rails.

1. Rail height — to the wrist crease

With the patient standing straight between the bars, arms hanging naturally, bring the rails to the wrist crease. At that height the elbow sits at roughly 20 degrees of flexion when the patient takes weight through the hands — enough to push, not so much that they lock out and lean. Rails set too high put the shoulders up and the weight through the arms; too low and the patient bends forward and the hips never come under them.

2. Clear width — a hand outside the hips

Set the clear width between the rails to about a hand's width outside each hip. Too wide and the patient reaches sideways and "hangs"; too narrow and the arms cannot straighten to take load. On the XINIX Parallel Bar both height and width adjust on clamps, so one unit takes a child in the morning and a large adult after lunch.

3. Step on at the bevel

A walking platform matters: it keeps the patient in the training zone and gives the feet a consistent surface. Ours is bevelled at both ends so the first step up is a slope rather than a kerb — and the patient should already have both hands on the rails before that step happens.

4. Walk the length

Early on, weight goes through the hands as much as the legs. The therapist walks outside the rails with both hands free to cue, guard or correct — which is the whole reason the equipment exists. As control improves, hands slide rather than grip, then hover, then come off.

5. Turn and repeat

Turning inside the bars is its own exercise and a common fall moment at home. The longer configuration gives enough distance to build a rhythm before the turn; the shorter suits a treatment room where the walk is shorter.

You can see all five steps animated on our Parallel Bar page — the model sets its own rails, then a figure steps on, walks and turns. Specification, item codes and a quotation link are on the same page.

Questions about anything above: WhatsApp or info@xinixinnovations.com.