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Post by swisswuff on Oct 26, 2009 4:07:56 GMT -7
I swim four times a week with the Masters training of the Limmat Sharks (northern suburb of Zuerich based swim club). Not a lot to be said about it technically - other than how to fasten those jammers one-handed and what optical goggles are best. The training programs are exactly the same as for non-disabled folks. Anyone care to exchange swim tips, I am interested.
Some people said why do I have to prove myself swimming? Well, sport's not new to me. I swim since I'm a little kid, I played water polo until I was about 20, and I did some running and triathlon stuff when I was younger. And regular swim competes aren't new to me either. I just don't see why I have to stop what I was doing beforehand. I'm not at all doing "something radically new". It was always my kind of sport.
----- Still didn't get around to fixing my bike situation - the handle bar lacks proper shock control and my arm stump hurts after 15-20 minutes, hurts bad. I guess it's nature's way of saying "hmmmm..." to me .......... until I come up with a better solution ;-)
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Post by stonecutter on Oct 26, 2009 7:14:14 GMT -7
This is one thing I cannot bring myself to do - go swimming. I used to swim quite regularly when I was in junior high, and would like to get back to it, but I am a little self conscious about it now. I have a couple issues with it: - I'm a bit afraid of how to get to and from the water without prosthesis on. I think the biggest fear is slipping on the pool deck while the prosthesis is off. Not for fear of injury, for fear of drawing attention to myself and people making a fuss. I HATE it when people make a fuss.
- My stump looks something like the monster from the movie Tremors. Due to the trauma involved, I have a skin graft and some pretty mis-shapen scars. I don't want to be a freak show. I don't care if people stare. What I care about is scaring kids! (I'm serious... it looks that bad!)
Are these thoughts irrational? Is there anyone else out there who feels this way?
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Post by swisswuff on Oct 26, 2009 8:55:50 GMT -7
My two cents:
1) Slipping is a real issue. It's bloody damned real. Even with """"just"""" missing a hand my balance is off quite a bit (you wouldn't think that but it still throws me off) and so I make sure I wear flip flops and no fast moves. The key to getting around safely is to aldo *reeeeallllyyy* taking your time. When I really take my time, I won't slip a bit. Besides there is no hurry at all. In our club, we have two girls that walk around on one leg and both of them take their time too.
2) Overall, also the key to people not being offended is taking ultra extra time and no hurry. I found people stare more because of "why the stir, why the hurry" than "why oh there's a part missing". Taking someone with me can be a great help as well.
3) Self consciousness will stay that way if left untouched. Until I got out there for at least 50 times at the very least I was just stressed out. It took quite a few visits to the pool to get a grip on things but I had to get back to the pool, water is my life and so it felt like "conquering it back". My biggest obstacle, mentally, is the changing room. It hate it, I absolutely >>>loathe<<< it when people stare at me while I struggle / wiggle into or out of my clothes. What I usually do if someone stares is finish the thing I was doing and then give them a hard blank hate stare directly into their eyes >until< they stop. So far everybody stopped and at times started to be embarrassed. - - Only after a while did I start to anticipate people's reactions, and find suitable attitudes, answers, faces, ... for them. Above all getting used to it takes a lot of exposure and a lot of time.
4) If you really feel bad about your leg: the swimming industry currently faces the harsh reality that from 2010 on competition male swimwear only allows for textile jammers (no leg skins, no full body suits). That means that leg skins and full body suits are currently being sold for cheaper and cheaper prices. If you can find something suitable and get it fixed you can get your relevant parts all covered up. Besides swimming with more body wear than just briefs is cool anyway. I like tight jammers because I don't have to tie a string and they stay in place because of there being enough friction. And I can jam the wardrobe box key between swimming trunks and skin and it'll stay in place for 4 or 5 km :-)
So I'm saying, go for it, and be very ver yattentive and check/ list what turn out to be the real issues. You'll die a couple of times from embarrassment, but that's quite ok, I died a couple of times too ;-) why should you be better off than other people. Seriously, go twice as slow as usual, and see if that helps.
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Post by cherylm on Oct 26, 2009 8:58:19 GMT -7
Stonecutter, when I first started up swimming again, I was concerned about both of those items. The "how to get to the water sans prosthesis" is actually pretty simple: Just sit yourself down near the pool edge, either on the deck or on a chair, take off the pros and cover it up with a towel, and slip over the edge of the pool and into the water. Easy! It's a little harder getting out of the pool, but if you did set a chair near the edge, you can push yourself up on the edge of the pool, then hoist yourself up into the chair to put on your pros and just walk away.
As for the "scaring the kids"... well, for the first couple of years, I wore a pair of bike shorts under my swimsuit, with the end of the "stump side" leg sewn shut. Then I went to a swim clinic for amps at the ACA conference and found that it was incredibly refreshing to bob around in the pool with a mob of other limbless folk! I also discovered that some experienced swimmers with "stump issues" just wore an old liner over their stump, which offered both a bit of protection and some "camoflage" for the sake of the kiddies.
Now I've gotten myself a very basic water activity leg, which makes everything MUCH simpler...just walk in/walk out, and nothing too graphic-looking is on view.
If you love swimming, get in the pool...the sense of freedom is wonderful!
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Post by bluedogz on Oct 26, 2009 11:51:45 GMT -7
I have a couple issues with it: - I'm a bit afraid of how to get to and from the water without prosthesis on. I think the biggest fear is slipping on the pool deck while the prosthesis is off. Not for fear of injury, for fear of drawing attention to myself and people making a fuss. I HATE it when people make a fuss.
Cutter- I feel your pain there. Making any sort of fuss gets on my nerves. As far as adapting, a couple of ideas spring to mind. First, if you can reach the poolside safely with your pros on, why not just drag a chair as close as possible to the poolside, sit and remove the pros, then butt-scoot out of the chair leaving the pros hanging safely off of it? If you cannot get that close to poolside with a chair, how about one of those little mechanics wheeled stools I've seen at auto parts stores? They're cheap and plastic, but if you're gonna use it poolside then that's good. Using this, you could leave your pros about anywhere and use your wheeled chair to scoot to the pool and back again. [/li][li] My stump looks something like the monster from the movie Tremors. Due to the trauma involved, I have a skin graft and some pretty mis-shapen scars. I don't want to be a freak show. I don't care if people stare. What I care about is scaring kids! (I'm serious... it looks that bad!)[/li][/ul] Are these thoughts irrational? Is there anyone else out there who feels this way?[/quote] I can only say that the hardest part of my healing process so far has been the "freakshow" feeling. For at least 3 months after my amp I could stand in the middle of an empty room and feel like everyone was staring. Ironically, the kids helped! Parents get uncomfortable from "trying not to notice" your missing a limb, while the kids ask about it because they innocently want to know! I think cherylm has it right-maybe a liner on your stump if it really bothers you. And while I'm not a professional (not at this, anyway), maybe talking to someone about body image concerns might be a good idea, eh? (The above is written in the most innocent, share-a-cuppa-coffee kind of context. Please don't take it as anything but that.)
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Post by oneblueleg on Nov 3, 2009 2:30:48 GMT -7
Stonecutter... I used to swim a lot, not so much now, but I have never had the issue with slipping, I take my leg off in the changing rooms and hop... everyone will now come down on me like a ton of bricks for saying that, but it's a fact and I've never suffered for it. I don't do it often enough for it to do too much damage to my remaining leg and I've never fallen or slipped. I've been to many different pools on holiday at hotels, many swimming baths, down flumes, indoors, ourdoors, you name it, I've been there, with never any issues in this regard. Pool sides are made to not be slippery, it would be dangerous for anyone, let alone an amputee if they were. I quite honestly have never worried about it. As for what the stump looks like, I sometimes wear bermuda shorts which hang as far as the end of the stump anyway. Most people don't take any notice, and if I'm not looking to see if they are anyway, I won't see them. I find that if I have confidence in myself, others do too and it all becomes a big non-issue. I say if you want to do it, do it... don't worry about anyone else, if they've got a problem it's theirs, don't make it yours. You won't regret it. Shame you're so far away, I would come with you.
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Post by ann- on Nov 4, 2009 0:01:38 GMT -7
Stonecutter - I am with you on what you are saying. I've been an amputee for 40 years and have been swimming in the past, but only really in private pools and the beach, the facilities of the public pools we have here arn't great, access is the biggest problem, especially if you are bilateral as I am.
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