Is there a physiotherapist in the house?

[allenuk]

I thought cycling was keeping me reasonably fit, given that my prosthetic leg has been so uncomfortable for AGES and I couldn't walk more than a hundred yards... but anyway, I know I must get walking again, so over the past week I've been really trying, just a few hundred yards a day, a little more each time.

And it is hard!

But one thing that is making it worse is this. After a couple of hundred yards the back of my (cut) leg aches like crazy - obviously the residual calf muscles etc. don't get much action during cycling - to the point where I almost gave up.

Then I found that if I stopped, leant against a lamp-post, lifted and ROCKED my cut leg backwards and forwards for a minute or so, I could walk on another hundred yards without so much pain.

I take it what I'm doing is somehow increasing the blood-flow into that area, and once I'd 'discovered' the method, I could get along a bit better, stopping every couple of hundred yards for another good shake-out.

So the question is, are there any (not particularly strenuous) exercises which will help re-invigorate that bit of redundant muscle, from the back of the knee down to the end of the stump.

Ideas welcomed!

Allen (bka, if that wasn't obvious).

[tedatrowercpo]

Look up the term "claudication".

[ann-]

Ted ... I did look up claudication and didn't like it that much!!!!

But Allen I must admit I really prefer to exercise without my legs on ... I am not sure if what I do helps below knee muscles or whatever though, but must I am sure help with circulation. In recent years I've had to re-build up my thigh muscles on one side, so have had quite a variety of professional physio, and now have an assortment of exercises i do, perhaps not quite so regularly these days, but still do them from time to time.

As I say, mine were mainly to help with the quads and hips and lower back and to get me walking better, although as you know that is quite dependant on good prosthetic fit! I will say no more on that. ha ha.

Do you remember the basic exercises they gave you after your amputation, leg raises, side raises etc etc., if it was me I'd start with these and do them at a regular time every day, bit like you would have done as a new amp. Also maybe from sitting bending and stretching your knee/stump, I have tried putting weights round the stump to make this more difficult but haven't been very successful holding them on a short stump.
Another good one I am told for circulation is, lying on your back and kind of writing letters in the air with your leg, you can make up names or the alphabet or whatever.

I had a regular routine of these I did for several years, I changed them around a bit and after a while devised a few of my own, I know, am a bit sad aren't I, LOL, but they did really pay off for me.
Being bilateral and also having skin grafts I find I am a bit limited with the gym, I mainly try and stick to upper body, I do use an exercise bike occassionally but the liner causes problems so do limit things. My most successful physiotherapy sessions have been wear I am given exercises without the legs on.

Am wondering if things are different for amputees though, perhaps we do have reduced blood flow or whatever ... perhaps its different depending on length, fit of prostheses etc etc., I know I have had times I will get crampy pains in the stumps when I am wearing particular prostheses, and not with others etc. etc., you can get your circulation checked out with an ultra sound quite easily, had mine done a few years ago.

[allenuk]

Thanks Ann, Ted.

Yes, I'm afraid claudication does make sense - I've got severe atherosclerosis, assymptomatic until this episode. I'm seeing a cardiologist in a month or so, and I'll mention it to him, but I think it might be just something else to be put up with.

Still, if I CAN get walking, even with stops every couple of hundred yards, it's better than nothing.


A.

[thegimp]

try a exersice bike that might help you get used to it and get you prepped for riding, because you can add as little or as much resistance you want

[ann-]

A couple of hundred yards without stopping is quite a long way Allen .... is to me anyway

How fast and how far are you actually walking? do you think you are being a bit hard on yourself and worrying unnecessarily, I know you have had a difficult time getting a good fitting socket/leg the last year or so... if you haven't walked that much for a while your muscles are going to have to build up gradually I would have thought. Also as a longer term amps our muscles below the knee do atrophy wearing these prostheses.

I think walking a couple of hundred yards, even with stopping, in legs/sockets that don't fit is pretty good going.

[allenuk]

Hello gimp (go on, do tell us your name - can't keep calling you 'gimp'!) - I ride a bike, an electric one, but it does need a lot of pedal power particularly up the hills round here. Doesn't seem to affect the calf muscles, though. I might dig out my old exercise bike and give that a go as well.

Ann - yes, fair comment, although I'm judging my walking not against what I could do pre-amputation (which actually wasn't much, being a lazy sod), but on that first year AFTER amputation, when I was doing 2 and 3 miles a day. Okay, I have piled on the kilograms since then, but it seems the other factor is very rapid shrinkage. (Why can't the rest of my body have some shrinkage?)

Not fast, just trying to build it up to ambling along a few hundred yards at a time. I've got a Harley Street appointment next week, and the easiest way is tube train, then walk, but the 'walk' bit is half a mile, so that's what I'm aiming for! Slowly, of course.

Oh, and another thing (isn't there always), due to failing eyesight my driving licence is probably going in a month or so, so that'll be that - bike or nothing, well, bike or walking!

A.

[thegimp]

i thought i posted in the introduction but my name is james all my friends call me gimp been called gimp for years now so im just used to it lol ill check the intro and make sure i posted

i havent tried bike riding, ive been kinda scared every since i laid my buddies dirt bike down after my accident.
bike riding and swimming have been the two things i just have not been able to over come the fear factor. i know aka's can do these things but i cant get over the mindset "i have only one leg and that one only has a partial foot so theres no way"
the biking is rough but the swimming part is the worst i grew up in the water, i was a river rat as dad put it lol but i look at water now and i completly freeze up.....sorry for the thread jack ill start my own lol

[allenuk]

James - sorry, maybe you already did give your name - apologies for my old age memory.

Cycling is GREAT for me, as it is 50 times easier than walking! Just a little effort, and woosh, you're hundreds of yards down the road. Yes, you've got to do some adjusting of your bike, and possibly your feet, but once that's done it isn't difficult (take my word - I'm old, not fit, and fat, and I can do it!)

And don't worry about hijacking - we all do it round here.


Allen.

[allenuk]

Anyway, the sore leg/residual calf muscle - it's beginning to resolve itself, and the answer seems to have been just doing it - i.e. every day, forcing myself to walk the circuit, increasing it a bit each time, and now although I have to take some rests, it is much less sore than it was originally.

Oh, and the rests that are best are just sitting on a bench for 2 or 3 minutes - the leg shaking bit seems to have been a red herring. I'm up to about 1000 yards round trip (i.e. 500 x 2), maybe a bit more. I must go out on my bike (which has a mileometer) and measure the route properly.

A.

[barclay]

That's nice to hear!

[cherylm]

Very nice, indeed, Allen!