The long road to walking

8.11.12

Hi all

Sorry i haven't posted for a while i have been waiting for my leg to be adjusted again. You will find that it needs tweaking all the time.


My leg

The bucket part might need re-shaping and the leg part might need lengthening or shortening. In my case it needed shortening because when i tried to walk normally i was dragging my toe on the carpet and had to hitch my hip to walk, this started to cause back pain. If you feel any discomfort report it to your prosthatist.

I have had the leg on now for a week, and in that time i have fallen twice. You will fall there's nothing to be embarrassed about, your learning to walk again and at the moment your walking with basically a stiff leg, that doesn't have a tilting ankle so going up hill and down hill you will find you are walking on your heel to stop you tipping forward.
But i have been told i can't have the flexible ankle until i have learnt to use this basic leg. That's very frustrating but you have to build up your muscles again to learn to take the weight. You will get back ache, and muscle ache but its just like going to the gym. That first week is a killer but after that you find you can do more and more. I have managed to walk 100 yards to my post box and back. That was a great achievement and even though i walked at granny speed i got there. Just do a little bit each day and keep practising your new way of walking.

The only thing i find annoying at the moment is the lip that my bum has to sit on to stop me sinking into the bucket part of the leg.
This is fine when you are standing up, but when you sit down you will need to have a big fluffy pillow as its like sitting on a brick.
My prosthatist has assured me that this will be thinned down with time and slowly i won't need the straps around my stomach. So its a a case of gritting my teeth and getting on with it.

Below is a film of me walking for the 1st time with crutches, i am now walking with 2 sticks.