Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Uncategorized October 17th, 2009Planes:
Yep, I’ve been to the physio Mon 12th. He checked my foot strength on all planes, down, up side to side then we discussed a regime of stretching prior to strengthening in a few weeks.
Each one of the following sets of exercise once a day, 3 to 5 times holding the position for 30 seconds and only one set of 3-5 per hour…so all in all five hours of something! (Please don’t follow these…see your own physio! That’s me legal disclaimer!!!)
1. Stretching involves standing both feet together two feet away from, and facing the wall. With the legs straight push the hips toward the wall.
2. Same again but instead of the hips, push the knees toward the wall.
3. With a belt looped around the ball of the foot, pull towards my torso while holding my foot steady (I suppose this does a bit of strength)
4. cross my dodgy leg over my good one, grab the foot and twist it so the sole is as far upward facing as possible
5. Same as above but pushing the top of the foot back down to the equine position as far as I can.
So all’s good (touch wood). I get a bit of swelling as the day wears on but keep my foot elevated as much as poss.
Trains…I’m off these now and back into:
Automobiles:
Yep back into my car, or should I say a hire car as mine was written off two weeks ago (I was a passenger) in a three car shunt…we were in the middle and got pushed into a flatbed truck! Hmm that’s the 2nd unlucky thing, perhaps I’m wasting my money at the moment doing the lottery?
Anyway the car driving is fine, I had to drive to the midlands Wednesday and all went well….I hang back plenty more yards so I’d have much longer if there was any emergency stops and tend to lift my foot and use the middle a bit more to limit the pressure of leverage to the front of my foot on the brake but the accelerator is no probs. Freedom! er well with crutches in the back for anything more than short distances.
I’m quite enjoying walking my foot right through it’s proper movement and keeping it straight with partial weight using my crutches.
The main thing is that based on everybody’s recommendations on this site I am still taking it plenty easy…paranoia is still the order of the day and I definitely try to listen to what my achilles is telling me.
October 18th, 2009 at 3:52 am
Sounds like you’re doing really well.
I too injured my right leg, so was interested to hear that driving is no problem for you - guess, I’m just a scaredy-cat! Will definitely go out with hubbie as passenger today - difficult to leave too much space between cars driving in busy Greater London though, someone always tries to nip in between.
The stretches feel sooo great don’t they after so long in a cast.
Best wishes,
Sam
October 18th, 2009 at 10:04 am
I am impressed with how fast you are advancing, already driving. Must feel good. Those are quite strong stretches you are doing. Perhaps soon you will start strengthening, too. I was kept in boot without PT for 11 weeks with the conservative treatment, and started driving at 12 weeks only!
October 19th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Hi Sam, did you get chance to have a go driving? I know what you mean about London…mind you I live in a town where they compare our traffic light system with Blackpool’s illuminations lol. Good luck with your braking when those buses are nipping in front of you
October 19th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Hi 2ndtimer, oh the driving is key to freedom, I just feel like the last 8 weeks have passed me by…I’ve worked them all (except a weeks hols and a couple of skived days) but it was lift to station, train in, lift from station to work and then the reverse at the end of the day and that was my life and social life (I’m sure you and our fellow unfortunates are well aware of feeling like this!).
It’s definitely given me an appreciation of what life is like for disabled folk…..”here, let me get that for you” when you’re thinking ‘just let me do it myself’. Then the alternative situation when you get stuck doing something and nobody even offers to help…ie people are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. I’m going to be a terrible grouchy old man if I manage to get that far lol.
The speed of what I’m doing is scarey but the physio chappie seemed to relate the time in pot to an equal amount of time to relative normality (normalcy for our US friends…I’m learning all this lingo from the huge amount of books I’m reading!). I suppose we’re all in the lap of the gods.
All I will say, disclaimer disclaimer, is that I am good at making wrong decisions…a friend brought a sports insurance rep to my daughter’s football training. He told me all the benefits for her and told me all the benefits I could have too if I took this wonderful policy. He was friendly enough then started to lay it on a bit thicker and harder asking me if I wanted to sign up and he’d give me a discount for the first month. I said ‘no thanks’, he persisted but I held my own. I felt happy that I had stood up to the pushy guy and not been rolled over etc etc.
This was two or three weeks before the achilles went…£5,000 down the pan!
That was my ‘Hamlet’ moment….so I’m hoping with all your advice and reading all the comments on here that I’ll be dancing by Christmas (in the words of some comedian, that’ll be strange as I couldn’t dance before!)