36 replies to this topic

[randomryan007]

I walk some days very well. other days I look like a shakey dish rag. it stinks. I was injured at 19. gained alot back . a couple years ago I had a stroke. and it just set a whole new ball game for me. at frst it was hard because I became a high risk fr falling. but i keep trying. I too when injured was told I would never walk T12 incomplete. I said to the doc like hell whatch me. and I walked. now I have alot of other things going on that makes me feel like I am starting over. I won't let it stop me. ps I spend 90 % of my time in my chair.

Keep moving forward its outstanding that your getting back mobility just remember to be easy on yourself.

[dom]

Parachute, on 04 February 2010 - 10:28 AM, said:

T11WALKER, on Feb 4 2010, 12:10 AM, said:

I don't want anyone to think I'm on here bragging to Parachute. Each injury is different!!! There are thousands of people with SCI who bust there ass trying to walk again etc. I have my issues with my SCI, but I really feel they are minor compared to others out there with a SCI, does this make me feel good or better NO. My injury has changed my whole outlook on life, in someways I'm a better person because of it. Some would say I was a asshole before, but I believe I have changed. I've tried my best to inform people in my circle about SCI and about the disabled. Some people have no clue how good they have it and I was one of those people. I feel very humbled, grateful,blessed,fortunate and one lucky dumb ass for the recovery I have made.
Steve

Hi T11WALKER, I for one know that you are not bragging. You are very very very lucky. I feel the similiar as you. I feel that I have had it easy compared to others. I am improving the way that I am because of many factors. One of the biggest factors is I studied Disabilities in Sport & Exercise not knowing that one day I would be disabled myself. The night that I got injured, I had the nursing staff massaging my hands and feet as I couldn't feel a thing. This is only because I knew that I needed to try and keep them active. My visitors would also massage me and also mobilise my arms. I was very lucky that I had this knowledge. Leeds has a easy access for facilities for disabled people. I get help for funding my physio sessions and work where there is a gym. That's how lucky I am. It would have been different if I had studied something else and also if I worked somewhere else (Sports College). I am a Health-Related Fitness & Health/ Sports Studies Graduate.

If I can now pass on the knowledge that I know to other Spinal Cord Injured people, it would mean so much to me. In April I am attending the Interspinal Unit Games at Stoke Mandeville. All being well, I will learn alot more from there. At the moment I read about Spinal Cord Injuries everyday but more on exercise, than anything else.

Hi Parachute i just read this thread and although i am very pleased at your recovery i feel that this - I am improving the way that I am because of many factors. One of the biggest factors is I studied Disabilities in Sport & Exercise not knowing that one day I would be disabled

is not necessarily true with regard to improvements i am sure everyone on here has had physio in varying degrees and worked hard to get any movement etc back but it isn't for the want of trying that they havent achieved their full capacities but correct me if i'm wrong

[Parachute]

Hi Dom

You are right in saying that it is not necessarily true with regards to inprovement that I studied Disabilty in Exercise and Sport but it did help. I'm not saying that people don't recover because of lack of trying.

While I was in hospital my mother told me to give a 75 year old man some advise. He was given physio just like me everyday mon-fri. It was a saturday evening when he told me that he had not lifted his arms for three months. I showed him what he had been doing wrong. I also told him that if he kept on doing what I had told him, that he would lift his right arm by wednesday. What a surprise we both got when he had only taken 10 minutes to lift his arm. Not for lack of trying on this occasion but possibly people not showing the man the correct way to exercise.

Maybe it was not my knowledge but the steroids that the unit had given a patient for the first time ever. Maybe I was just fortunate anyway. Maybe my injury is not that bad. One thing for sur is, we will never know.

If you can quote me where I said "it isn't for the want of trying that they havent achieved their full capacities' then fair enough. I would not dream of saying such a thing.


Parachute

[dom]

Parachute, on 07 December 2011 - 10:43 PM, said:

Hi Dom

You are right in saying that it is not necessarily true with regards to inprovement that I studied Disabilty in Exercise and Sport but it did help. I'm not saying that people don't recover because of lack of trying.

While I was in hospital my mother told me to give a 75 year old man some advise. He was given physio just like me everyday mon-fri. It was a saturday evening when he told me that he had not lifted his arms for three months. I showed him what he had been doing wrong. I also told him that if he kept on doing what I had told him, that he would lift his right arm by wednesday. What a surprise we both got when he had only taken 10 minutes to lift his arm. Not for lack of trying on this occasion but possibly people not showing the man the correct way to exercise.

Maybe it was not my knowledge but the steroids that the unit had given a patient for the first time ever. Maybe I was just fortunate anyway. Maybe my injury is not that bad. One thing for sur is, we will never know.

If you can quote me where I said "it isn't for the want of trying that they havent achieved their full capacities' then fair enough. I would not dream of saying such a thing.


Parachute

Hi and no Para i cannot and would not quote you for saying that you are an inspiration to many on here including yours truly! i agree physio is vitally important especially in the first couple of years to maximise any gains that are possible, and you do great work helping people to that goal i am sure,for a lot of Sci'ers the mobility side is only half the problem as you know with regard to bowels/bladder circulation feeling/pain etc etc

i personally had a bad experience in stoke however with the physiotherapist there as i was told to over exercise on the wobble board causing my right ankle to swell up in size the doctor said i had to rest it and not do that exercise only gentle ones

[lonebobseytwin]

I walk unaided, strangely enough I got up and walked away after my accident.

I do well on short distances, If i have to be somewhere walking on my feet all day where I know there may not be anywhere to sit I rarely use a cane, just to take pressure off my back.
I haven't really tried to run. I went dancing three times a week prior to my accident, so I was in pretty good shape before hand, I was one hell of a nightclubber haha.

Since then the treadmill has done me alot of good, as do recumbent bikes,

My biggest problem is I have cervical dystonia in my neck which pretty much makes my arms unusable, keeping the muscle tone up in them has been the most difficult. I spend most of my time keeping my shoulders and neck as happy as possible.
I can't even move my arms when I walk. which sort of makes me move like frankenstein. It's sort of like the reverse of having the leg problems.
Since I got the feeling back in my left foot, they seem good to go with little problems. The only weird problem is if I am walking, and someone abruptly stops in front of me I my reflexes seem to be slower and I walk hard right into them. I just can't stop myself soon enough.

Hearing about everyone progress makes me feel more motivated.
I can't even remember when I last walked/ran a mile (middle school?) haha.

I bought myself a little floor bike peddler last week, I'm kinda excited about how much use I'm going to get out of it.
and I could always use more tips on keeping the muscle tone happy.

The insane part of me wants to strap a pair of 4 wheel roller skates on just to see if I can. But that's probably a bad idea right? I can dream.

[Kitson]

Hi and yes congratulations - thats lots of luck, effort and glycogen!
I am an ex ironman triathlete who crashed his bike and was left incomplete C5, I am now 6 yrs post injury have just started running again. Well I say running... its a comedy event really. Interested in your story though. the biggest problem I have faced is tripping and have hit the road/trail a few times. Dont quite know where Ill end up but my physio now reckons I run better than i walk... wierd eh?

This topic does through up some weird egoic issues - This community needs to support everyone on the basis of we've all been delt a crap hand in being injured. Now how can each of us get help to reach our personal targets not in competition with each other but in support of each other.

Interesting.

[Tetracyclone]

Lonebobseytwin,

Yes, your body ended up a bit freakish, didn't it. How do you manage things like eating ?