Crutches

Several weeks ago I began suffering from severe pain in my right wrist. When I visited the KCH clinic I was given a "comfy crutch". The only problem was that the new crutch couldn't be extended as far as the old basic crutch. The physio shortened the old crutch to match the new crutch length and told me that it was now the correct length.

We then went through some walking exercises. The aim was to get me to walk with straight legs, left right left right, instead of buckling at the knee. It was very painful. One problem was that when I tried to flex the ankle, it became extremely painful. Another issue was that I would stoop and use my shoulder strength to try to lift myself over the unbending ankle. The third problem was that if I didn't lift myself through or buckle at the knee then my hips would bend to shorten my body.

I tried to put the walking exercise into practice for a few days but found it either impossible or too painful. Eventually I gave up.

I then attended a Physio appointment at St Georges. There was no actual treatment but instead some assessment of my abilities. I questioned the mismatched crutches. The physio said the handle should be next to my wrist bone. It wasn't. It was 1-2 inches lower.

A few days later I suddenly realised that I could probably buy my own crutches. A few minutes of browsing and I had ordered a new pair of crutches from Amazon.

As with everything related to health and care, the crutches took an age to be delivered. Debenams and Next both delivered other stuff far quicker despite the orders placed on the same day.

Eventually the two new comfy crutches arrived. I set them up using the old crutches as a guide, but was so disappointed tho discover they were no better.

For a week I soldiered on. Then, today, I happened to pick up the olde crutch and compare it with the new crutch, only to discover that they were set to the same height. I re-adjusted the new crutches and tested them. I found that I could swing my leg through properly without lifting up on the crutches, and could land on my heel, rolling forward onto the toe. Fantastic! I still found that I rotated around the right hip, but it was so much better.

A few hours later I decided to go for a walk. I needed to post a cheque, so why not? By the time I'd reached the post box I wanted to go further. About an hour later I had done a full half mile walk. Ok, so I was overtaken by a troop of marauding ants, two racing worms and a GTI snail, but it was a proper left right left right walk. I was so pleased I gave myself a beer.