Feb 14 2011
Starting to walk…
Hello all,
Its been a week with my boot and my leg is getting stronger everyday. For the first couple of days of having the boot, I treated it like a cast…not putting any wright on it. Then, after that, using the crutches still, I started putting some weight down, very little, and then each day putting a little more. This really helps…and by Wednesday, I should be completely FREE of the crutches! These past couple of days…I finally I have been able to take a couple of steps without the aid of the crutches…yet I do this VERY little and only in my room and around the dorm floor. It is a great feeling after not walking for almost seven weeks. So, for the most part…I am still putting most weight on the crutches…and my leg gets very tired when really walking without crutches and it takes awhile for it to "get rested" again. Sleeping with the splint is much easier now…now that I am used to it.
The incision area is closed all the way…and the bruising (kind of dark red, but not bright or anything - and not painful. I think the marks are from the stitches, which are fading a little more every day.) So, overall everything is going well…and I will let you all know how Wednesday goes without the crutches….
Please keep up the prayer as well.
G-d Bless
3 responses so far
Doing some quad, hamstring and hip (abductor and aductor) exercises w/an ankle weight or better yet, with the boot on for weight, 2 times a day if you’re not already doing something like that, is really helpful for getting the muscles in your leg back in shape and ready to support the weight of walking and of your body once you start to FWB on the “bad” leg. My PT says that keeping your leg and hip muscles strong during recovery helps reduce the limp once you go to FWB. I tend to agree heartily!
Keep up the good healing!
Go you!! I’ve been taken out of my cast (or my protective ‘bubble’ as I called it!) and put straight into 2 shoes - VERY SCARY to say the least. I was expecting a walking boot for a week or two but no… Anyway no point worrying… I need to make the best of a bad situation and get on with my healing!! Hope yours goes well too
Sounds great, Rebekah!
One more tip: When you start walking, especially when you’re FWB, it’s important to “build up” your OTHER foot so it’s as high off the floor as the foot in the boot. Otherwise, your knees and hips and spine (etc.) are all out of alignment, and things can go badly. You can hurt those body parts, and you’ll also be re-training yourself to walk crooked, instead of re-learning how to walk straight.
Some of us found our thickest, clunkiest boot and added a footbed/insole to it, others had an old shoe modified by a shoemaker, I got a “cast shoe” and slipped a sandal inside it, VacoCast makes a shoe for that purpose. . . It doesn’t matter HOW you make everything straight and balanced, but it’s very important that you DO it!