Stepwise Cane started as an idea that had been sitting in the back of my mind for years. As a physical therapist, I saw every day that most people don’t use walking canes correctly—not because they don’t try, but because the canes themselves aren’t designed with real movement in mind. Whether it was single-point canes or other designs on the market, they all had the same problem: they didn’t work with the body, and I knew that was causing unnecessary pain and discomfort in people’s wrists, elbows, and shoulders. I knew this because patients would also complain about this same thing. I kept thinking there had to be a better way—a cane with a rounded, slightly flexible bottom that could move with the user, improving stability while also reducing strain on the upper body.

For years, the idea stayed in my head. But on October 30, 2015—the day I donated a kidney to my mom at New York Presbyterian—everything shifted. As I lay in bed watching the Mets-Royals World Series, I had a moment of clarity: life is just too short to sit on a good idea. If I truly believed this could help people, I had to do something about it.

A few weeks after surgery, once I was feeling strong enough, I decided to take the first step. I ordered some moldable plastic pellets, melted them down, cut up a sneaker sole, and glued it to the bottom. It wasn’t pretty, but it was my first prototype. And more importantly, it worked.

That’s how Stepwise Cane was born—not in a high-tech lab, but from my own hands, driven by the belief that people deserve a walking aid that actually supports them—one that moves the way they move and helps prevent the pain that so many cane users experience. What started as an idea is now a reality, helping people walk with confidence, comfort, and less pain every day.