Hi guys,
ok I might not progress as fast as I could, but I came across this video on youtube today which totally threw me off course.
I'm T4/5 para and have issues with balance, moving myself because I ate myself into a fat cow due to frustration/boredom-eating. (Being 6ft tall doesn't help either...long legs are only nice if you can walk In this video this T7 para, who is a leightweight compared to myself, is transferring himself into his bed without a board...unthinkable for me.... and just grabs his legs and voila...he's in.
I'm glad if I can transfer on a board without falling over...and hoisting my legs into bed..?...you must be joking.

I just wonder how guys with similar injury level are doing ...?

To let you see what I mean.... I found the clip.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Wiy370jGk

Is it only me who gets totally frustrated seeing this....??

Not at all Tallgirl! Remember that boys naturally have more upper body strength than girls anyway. I have found videos on youtube of paras who are a higher level than me doing things I could never dream of! There is also a tetra on there who does excellent transfers, although he's as skinny as a rake so I'm sure that helps. As for tips? Well I'm not too heavy and I can manage most transfers without too much difficulty (except floor to chair) and I don't use a board but I also don't have very long legs to contend with, I'm a fairly average 5ft6.
Sorry that's no help to you whatsoever!

Hi Trinity,

thanks for replying......it doesn't matter whether it's helping or not... I find just exchanging experiences very good....that's what we're here for....right?
And as long as people don't tell me how wonderful they are doing and what my problem is and me wanting to give myself the bullet I want to hear as many opinions and stories as possible.

Cheers

ah, transfers, my favorite.. kidding

but yeah, i'm a T 5/6 para and his transfers looks alot like how I do mine.

balancing just takes some practice, should get easyer, same with transfers.

I ditched my transfer bored completely awhile ago.

and i'm not a small guy so yeah it is possible. I'm 5 11 at 185 lbs and mine are fine, besides from the floor, I need to go onto the couch first then chair, still working on floor to chair lol.

only tip I can really think of is, make sure you have your brakes on, makes it alot easyer.
I just recently stopped using my brakes for transfers. except from the toilet, still need them for that hehe.

TG,
Happy Monday and a somewhat belated welcome to the sight of all sites.
I have about two years seated. I'm about your height, 6'. And I've eaten myself to the size of not one, but probably two or possibly three cows!
AH, but what handsom cows they are.

How all these lil' weigh-nothings transfer from here to there, hither and yon, back and forth like butterflies on speed all without the use of a board is beyond me. Significantly overweight and decidedly under powered, I am the "big Chevy pickup with a four cylinder engine" of paraplegics.

I'm beginning to think all those you-tube antics are nothing more than a bunch of computer generated smoke and mirrors designed to make us, "the corpulent crusaders" cry with frustration. That or it's some huge conspiracy perpetuated by yet another enigmatic marketing conglomerate to get us to purchase diet pills by the gross so they'll have the money for not one, but two summer homes in the Hamptons replete with full time staff AND an indoor swimming pool.

Well screw 'em I say! I will not lose one pound. I ain't gonna do it, and ya can't make me. I don't care how miserable I am, I shall leave no doughnut
unturned in the search for true enlightenment. The mere thought of caloric deprivation irks me to no end. The very idea of less pizza posits pronounced
pissed-offness to my otherwise passive personality.

As long as you can do it yourself without the need of a hoyer lift, block and tackle, D-9 caterpillar or a jaws of life yer OK. I have yet to break a transfer board or even fall to the floor while flitting about from bed to chair, here or there or where ever I dare. So there.

Do what you gotta do babe. Just do it and get it done, then move on to the next unbelievably difficult task designed to frustrate and fatigue.
How 'bout clean up after an involuntary? Big fun for fat folks I say. What's one of your favorites?

E-dog

The only transfer I need a board for is on bathroom equipment. My bathroom is way too small to get the right angle to do a depression transfer, and so it doesn't make sense to put my safety in jeopardy.

I would work on depressing across the sliding board. Do it in little hops, and eventually your muscles will get used to the motion and you should be able to hop on to a surface after a lot of practice.

I also recommend doing depression weight shifts. It helped me get stronger. And if at first you can't hold yourself up for an entire minute, try to do 20 seconds depression, 40 seconds forward lean/however else you do it.

Take baby steps. The quick way is really never the best way

Hey edog,,, I, too, am a member of the CC,,, and as such tend to do any transfering either with, or within reach of, a board.

We're pleased for you Benny,,,, but add your height and weight to those suggestions, if you please... Hell, I'm not only fat, but old, too,,,, gimme a break.

Don't feel too bad, tallgirl,,, I've got a nephew ( a t6), who is 25 years my junior, telling me the same kinda crap.
ed

I'm about 190 lbs., 5'7.

Regarding floor to chair (also difficult for me), I very recently discovered a new technique that made it easier. I took the brakes off my new chair (for ease of changing wheelsets) and was down on the floor the other day, dreading havig to get back in. Previously to get back in, I would lock the brakes, sit sideways with my bum near the footplate and my legs pulled up as close as possible to the frame without them falling over sideways, would put left arm on the chair to pull up and lift with my right arm (head down, ass in the air) and hope for the best. Now I discovered that NOT having the brakes on means that as I am lifting myself upwards with my right arm, I can quickly yank my chair under my ass so it 'catches' me as I'm going up which means that it's less effort, less strain, and don't have to struggle as much. Yay! And it only took me 11 years to figure it out!

Strengthening your arms and shoulders can make transfers a hell of a lot easier, even doing chair 'push ups', lifting light weights, etc. I don't use a board or anything and can manage most transfers unless they are super awkward and require twisting but I'm somewhere around 105lbs and don't have much to lift. I have also seen some paras do stuff on youtube that I am stunned at--particularly the climbing-a-full-flight of-stairs-in-your-chair stuff. I've never been able to do this. Those youtube paras must be superheroes or something.

OK I have a lower injury than you and I am one of them skinny minnies........oh yeah and I'm short.

But I can 2nd that the guys have it a lot easier than we do. When I was pregnant & on bed-rest for months on end I did have a very hard time if there was even a slight gap. Not sure how far you are post injury but we all end up with different abilities even when we do have a similar injury. And since it is harder for us to exercise plus AB's have the added bonus of their thigh muscles aiding them in their weight-loss even while not actually exercising.......large muscles burn away calories and fat just while driving to work. So if you want to work on the weight-loss end I'd recommend going swimming (there are a few threads here talking about swimming).

He's stronger and skinnier than I am, but I think he's put some good videos together there. I particularly struggle with the car transfer without the board so I found that one useful.

Basically, here are my thoughts on the issue:

We are all different and our injuries have affected us in different ways. We should all be using a transfer method that allows us to transfer in a safe, controlled manner. For some that involves a board. For some it is a depression transfer. For some, such as walking quads, the best transfer may be no transfer at all, they might be able to step to where they want to go for a short distance. My point is, do what works best for you and improves your quality of life and never let ANYONE make you feel ashamed or less of a person for using a certain method of transferring yourself. We all do what we have to in order to get through life.

Here I am,,, agreeing with UB again,,, what's the world coming to???


Benny,,, another old coot,,, cool,, how long you been chairbound?
ed

I'm actually quite reasonable. I just don't take no shit offa people. This issue is one that gets me riled up in particular.

I recently was a witness to a conversation between two paralyzed gents where one said to the other, "Hey man, are you STILL using a board to do all you transfers?" Like it was some kind of putdown, or that the guy in question was LESS because he used a sliding board, you know? That's one reason I decided to post this.

Hi E-Dog,
a belated thank you to your late welcome.
I just had a thought when I read your post....if you are two cows and I'm one to 1 1/12....does this mean we are also responsible for the hole in the ozonlayer because of the gas we emit...??
And what was your last comment..?..these nasty accidents.....especially happening frequently if one's trying to maintain one's cowlike weight but we are not having a chip on our shoulders ,are we??
Whoa it feels so good to talk to like minded equally loopy people...

I'm glad I found you guys!!

xx

[/quote]
Whoa it feels so good to talk to like minded equally loopy people...

I'm glad I found you guys!!

xx
[/quote]

Nothin' personal, UB,, it's just that we seem to end up on opposite sides of many of the topics, herein discussed,, so I thought it appropriate.

I concider many, here, reasonable,, not the least, you.

TB,, yeah,,, this is my favorite site, too.

ed

T2 complete - 6ft 1" tall and 45yrs young, 185lbs or just above 13 stone which isn't exactly lightweight but I'm not overweight either. Don't use a transfer board for anything and transfer happily from just about anything to just about anything else although floor to chair is still a bit ropey.

I always encourage anyone I meet to ditch the transfer board as it's just one less thing to carry about and allows just a little bit more independence from aids and thus independence but there's nothing wrong with using one it that's what works for you, it's just a bit unnecessary in most cases. Not feeling like each and every transfer is a challenge means that jumping in and out of the car, on and off the sofa the hand bike, the bath etc just starts to be normal and at that point you start working your disability round your life rather than working your life around your disability. It takes a bit of work but it's worth it. Most transfers like the one in the video from chair to bed involve transferring over a gap that is considerably smaller than the width of the average bum so there's really nowhere to go if you do it without a board.

I struggle to accept the female being less strong argument as they should also be lighter but for the same body weight then the argument will hold.

Hi russ1,
thanks for your input. I always find it great to hear how other people manage.
I would love to try without a board, but my bed is still higher than my chair and I have balance issues so I'm a bit more hesitant to try without the help of a board. And for the weight-strength issue...I'm not going to reveal my weight, but I'm not strong enough to move my masses of flesh, however I keep ploughing on.

Probably one o' them corn fed farm boys. Could pick up a cow and carry it into the milking barn by the time he was 12 years old.

"Gee Bennie, why'd ya carry that dad-gum cow in here?"
"Jeepers pa, the pasture's dang near a mile an' a half away! I didn't want her to get all tuckered out!"

Have a look at www.standingstart.org - may be able to help in many ways

Peter

I too have transfer issues! I'm 5'3 and around 140 lbs. My feet do NOT touch the ground at all!! I have to use my footplate all the time and that can cause some problems. I too am very nervous when doing my transfers. I always use a board except getting out of bed because my bed is slightly higher than my chair and I just slide right in. My husband helps in the bathroom and I have a foot stool for toilet. We are planning a new bathroom/bedroom addition and this will help with the bathroom issues. I wish my legs were longer. I wish my legs would walk.