I have the first season of House, Mike, and it shows the story of his leg.
He had a blood clot (embolism?) in his thigh. The rest of the doctors were insisting on amputation. There was necrosis. He opted into a coma, which gave his girlfriend, his medical proxy.
She had the damaged muscle removed, while in the coma.

I always wondered why he used the cane wrong, what you said makes perfect sense!

I have a "walking stick" made by a company called "Leki".
It's actually designed for cross country skiing.
You can get all kinds of grips, Mine has a wooden knob on top, and a compass built into that. An adjustable strap goes around the wrist.
It's height adjustable, and you can take the rubber tip off the bottom, and there's a titanium edge there, which is a HUGE help on ice!
The best thing about it, is that it's spring loaded, so when you put weight on it, it doesn't hurt my shoulder! (TOS). and, the strap for the wrist, is great, because if I need to lift something, or write something, I can just drop it, and it simply hangs onto my wrist! Then, when I start walking again, I just grab it.
It's really wonderful.
I got it a a place called the "Walking Company".
It's also got a "belt clip", and under the handle, is a camera thread(stalk). (All cameras have a threaded hole in the bottom, so you can use this thing as a steady support for the camera tooooo. which of course you're totin' along while you can barely walk!)
Anyway, it's mostly aluminum, and is a really great design, and it's very sturdy. I've mine for over a decade.
Whew, ,ok, I'm done my ode to my cane.

pete