[Disability] How likely were crutches, braces and other accessories to be offered in the Early Modern Period (400-1000 BCE)

by Kiyohara

In the TV show Vikings (I know, I know, not history), Ivar the Boneless builds himself several means of combating his paralysis of the legs. From a War-Chariot, to crutches, to some kind of metal leg brace rig, he seems to have found numerous ways to move about despite having no walking capabilities.

But for Real History: how likely is it that any -pelagic (para or other wise) would have a way of off setting disability?

Did they have the equivalent of peg legs? Crutches? Full Leg Braces? Wheel Chairs (like on Game of Thrones for Doran Martell)? Hook hands? Wooden hands?

For those experts outside this time frame: Were they available in your era?

sunagainstgold

For a bit later time frame--1000-1500 CE (later medieval instead of early)--I have an answer that might interest you:

Irina Metzler, one of if not the foremost scholar on disability and people with disabilities in the Middle Ages, says she has found one illustration in a medieval source that might resemble a rudimentary "chair with wheels" for a person who could not walk. But we definitely can't talk about any kind of widespread practice, for sure. Carrying seems to have been the primary mode of transportation. There's also ample illustrated evidence for crutches.

There's a sixteenth-century case of a Landsknecht (Germany mercenary soldier) who lost a hand and had a prosthetic created. However, we should be skeptical about projecting that technology backwards in time--it was crafted by a goldsmith on the back of goldsmiths' recently gained experience in firearms, clocks/gears, and injectable molds. For a good chunk of the Latin Middle Ages, illustrations prove that people did not understand gears/gearshaft mechanics.