Blog > Thoughts > Other's Thoughts > Chloe's Thoughts > Hiking with a Leg Brace
Hiking with a Leg Brace
Written by Chloe on Thursday, November 5, 2009
A month or two ago I was hiking high up in the mountains. The trailhead was at 10,200 ft. The first 45 minutes was along a reasonably level, though rocky, trail to a lake. After that I went off trail to climb a peak. Along that first part of the trail I couldn’t help but think it was something I could manage with a leg brace and crutch. I knew that sooner or later I would see what it was like to hike with a leg brace. That was today.
Chloe on the trail with a KAFO
It has been on my mind for a long time that in due course I would need to be hiking as a PWD rather than as able bodied (albeit with a limp). The most obvious recourse would seem to be to use the various wheelchair accessible trails that are up in the mountains. However, fibromyalgia prevents me from doing anything too arduous in a wheelchair. Hiking with a single KAFO seemed to be a reasonable first step in the right direction.
Last week the weather was dreary and it snowed four days in a row. My mood was a bit down for a variety of reasons, including that I hadn’t hiked in a while. Today was warm and sunny, and Alicia suggested that since the snow had melted down where we live we could take a walk together across the street. We live directly opposite a wetlands wildlife refuge, and a trail through it starts a couple of hundred yards away from our house; no need to drive anywhere. This seemed like a good idea since it avoided tramping through all the snow in the mountains.
However… There were going to be a lot more people there than in my usual wilderness areas up in the mountains. Moreover, we would have to walk past the houses of a couple of neighbours in order to get to the trailhead. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to experiment hiking with my left KAFO and a crutch. The first part of the trail is paved and level, so it is the easiest degree of difficulty for hiking; a good place to start. Off we went. I was glad I brought a crutch.
After an hour or so, the trail splits; with a dirt road leading to a pond. Even though I had never walked that long continuously with a leg brace, I wasn’t having the slightest problem. So we decided to up the degree of difficulty a small notch by taking the dirt road, which was a bit muddy in parts. After hanging out by the pond for a while we headed home; about three hours total. The pic by the pond is not very flattering. I look fat in the wrong places and my boobs look saggy. Oh well, we’re among friends.
Another little step has been taken in living my life as a PWD. After we were home we had a conversation about the psychology of the new experience. It had essentially been the same for both of us in that it had been unremarkable with regard to the leg brace. We both found it completely normal. We both commented that it would have seemed wrong for me not to have been wearing a leg brace.
It did not cross my mind until after we were home that I had not experienced any of the usual muscle spasms, leg pain and weakness during the hike. I don’t know if this is because the hike was easy, or because I was wearing a leg brace on that leg. It’s just an observation.
One of the things I had concern about was whether I might have any unusual muscle soreness due to hiking with a leg brace. It didn’t happen at all. I feel ready to take the degree of difficulty up a notch; perhaps a rocky path or some uphill?
Has anybody else tried this? I’d be interested to know how far one can take it.
Tags: Accessible, Crutch, KAFO, Leg Brace, PWD, Wheelchair
This entry appears in Chloe's Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Post your comments
© transabled.org - 1994-2012 - All Rights Reserved.