her "friends" insist it's a "crutch," telling her that once she gives into using it she will "never be independent."

Yes. This is precisely the type of pejorative use I'm talking about. And, yes, it makes me angry.

As if hobbling around her house in pain is making her any more independent, or giving her a fuller life.

That's why I want to get the idea that crutches are a kind of ladder-- they can raise us up, both figuratively and metaphorically.

Anyone "up" for a chorus of "I am climbing Jacob's Ladder"?