"I'm Walking With Crutches"

... and it's safe to say you'd rather NOT be walking with crutches! Correct?

Page Contents
1. Choosing Your Target
2. Your Journey
3. See Your Health Pro
4. A Special Note
5. Your Free Ezine!

Right now though, you're stuck with walking on these darn crutches.

You don't much like 'em, they're no fun, they slow you down. At times a few choice phrases might cross your mind?

That's pretty normal, especially in the early, painful post op (or post injury) days.

You wonder if you'll ever walk effortlessly again. Some days you just don't see any progress. Some days you just ...wonder - "Does this walking on crutches thing ever end"? Hang in there. It's not easy, but you can do it.

Here's something that helped us work through that challenge and get walking again.

Choose Your Target or Goal! (Back to Top)

Pick something that's really important to you. Maybe something as simple as not walking with crutches any more! Maybe it's skiing or driving the car again? Or maybe you want to:

Just be mobile again?
Go for a walk with the grandkids?
Start one of our walking programs?
Backpack a mountain trail?
Really start feeling good again?
Enjoy life to the max?

Decide what really matters to you. Choose your one target and make it your goal! Stay focused on that goal every single day. We know! Easy to say. A lot harder to do! Here's a little trick that might help. Write your goal down on a piece of paper and put it on your fridge or bathroom mirror. Look at it every day. You'll get sick of looking at it but...look at it EVERY SINGLE DAY! Leave it there until you've done it!
Think of the day when you can get rid of it! That means you succeeded! Yeah! That should get you going and starting to feel good!

Your Journey (Back to Top)
Moving beyond walking with crutches and getting rid of 'em wont likely happen on 'a day'. More like a bit of progress each day over many days. Sometimes many, many days! You know that at our ages it's more often going to be the latter!

Ah...our reality. We don't really feel any older. It's just that the old bod has other ideas some days. Listen to it for sure but just remember...You're in charge here!

The biggie here? Follow the rehab program from your health pro! It usually hurts like heck for the first few days or weeks. (You already know that though don't you!). Keep looking at that note! You don't want to be walking with crutches forever do you?

Over time you find yourself going a little faster and a little easier with them. Then you take some tentative steps without them. Slowly you work back up to your regular pace and you start getting stronger, better balanced and more confident.

Gee, that darn physio and goal stuff really works!

The Health Professional Thing! (Back to Top)

There is one really important thing you MUST do. Work closely with your health pro from the beginning through to your full recovery. This is IMPORTANT! They know your unique situation better than anyone. They've helped many others get past walking with crutches too.

Follow their guidance faithfully and with total dedication. If you have problems with it - just TALK to them! Let them know! You might need a bit of adjustment to your program. It can happen! Keep the lines of communication open always!

Don't be too surprised if you get a 'tough love' message once in a while - as in tough love that hurts you! Physios can be so 'really not nice' sometimes can't they? Trust them though. They do know what they're doing. Really they do!

A Special Note (Back to Top)

We've heard of cases where the physio is more focused on leading edge sports physio for athletes. Some of them aren't as tuned in to programs for us 'more seasoned' folks. If that happens to you just ask for a referral or do a bit more legwork in your area.

Stick with your program. In some cases (like ours) the strengthening and stretching 'forever'. You gotta do some 'maintenance'* exercises all the time.

'Maintenance' - Not an oil change and lube job but modern physio jargon for 'keep doing your stretches and strengthening forever'! Don't you just love it?

In our cases we had to recover from a torn quad tendon in a mountain hiking incident (Geoff) and a disrupted medial collateral ligament (MCL) from a skiing injury (Yoko).

Geoff's doctor said him he could not drive a car for three months! Well he passed the recovery test and drove again in 2.6 months! (he NEEDED a car for his work and there was NO WAY he was just going to sit and hobble around).

There was no cast but an articulating knee brace, lots of physio, walking with crutches for 8 blocks downtown each way to get to physio, lots of exercising in the pool and eventually a lot of flutter kick swimming. Compared to Yoko's case this was a piece of cake!

In Yoko's case she was bound and determined to get her full range of motion back so she wouldn't have to compromise the quality of life she was accustomed to. . Stuck in a heavy, fiberglass cast, crutches, no weight bearing for several weeks, learning how to walk all over again over a one year period. Lengthy weight and knee stretching program, moving from crutches to a cane, a long journey not soon forgotten. It was worth the effort!

Stay with your program! Achieve your goal. Leave your days of walking with crutches behind you. Come and join us for your Fitness Walking Program when you're ready.

While you're here, why not have a look at our info on Foot Care and Choosing Your Best Walking Shoes sections. You'll find several good tips and info to make your feet feel better and your future walking adventures more enjoyable.

Share Your Story

Why not share the story of your recovery from walking with crutches? How you were able to move past walking with crutches? Our other visitors would love to hear them too!

In fact, we think your story is so important to helping others get motivated too, we'd like to publish it on your very own web page. You're most welcome to share your Walking Story here.

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