Where can I get a wheelchair, walker, or crutches cheap?

For a sprained ankle, a post-surgery month, or a longer road, the equipment itself doesn’t have to be the expensive part. Two people who’d been through it — backed by a chain of grateful follow-ups — laid out the same playbook.

Check thrift stores first. Crutches, walkers, canes, shower chairs, and even wheelchairs sit nearly new on thrift-store racks, usually for a few dollars. People buy them for one recovery and donate them after. It’s the single fastest way to turn a few-hundred-dollar problem into a five-dollar one.

Then check the lending closets — they’re free. Local and national organizations lend mobility equipment at no cost: churches, senior centers, VFW halls, Elks and Lions clubs, and medical-equipment loan closets run by counties and nonprofits. Many towns have a Council on Aging that lends durable equipment to residents of any age, indefinitely; one member’s grocery store lent walkers to anyone who called and asked. Neighborhood groups online are full of crutches gathering dust — asking costs nothing. Your state’s Assistive Technology Program can point you to device-loan and reuse programs near you, and a call to 211 will surface the local closets that never show up in a web search. (In Canada, the Red Cross lends this equipment free.)

Close the loop when you’re done. The move one member described has its own quiet beauty: five-dollar crutches from the thrift store, donated right back after recovery for the next person’s sprain. And a note for UK readers, from someone who knows the system there: equipment that came free from the NHS should go back to the NHS — returning it keeps the closet stocked; reselling it empties it.

One honest boundary: which aid fits your body, your injury, and your recovery is a medical question — worth asking the doctor, physical therapist, or nurse who knows your situation, especially before relying on a used wheelchair for daily life. This page is about not overpaying; the fit belongs with your care team.

If you’re asked to pay full retail out of pocket, pause first — between the thrift rack, the loan closet, and a 211 call, most short-term needs can be covered for almost nothing.