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Peter on Legbrace Wearing
Written by Peter on Friday, October 17, 2008
I asked Peter what his best brace wearing experience was. He appeared somewhat perplexed by the question, but gave a wonderful answer nonetheless. I think this answer is an important one!
"What was my best brace wearing experience?" is not an easy question to answer mainly because I wonder why the question was asked. Wearing braces on my legs is just a normal situation for me.
I am not "into" brace wearing from the fantasy point of view. I just strap them to my legs like anyone would put on a pair of non-fashionable jeans.
I am a need-pretender. I do, of course, have many fun-pretender friends who often ask why I don’t have braces with lots of extra straps and buckles and other useless accessories. My response is I don’t need these things. The brace must be easy to put on, quick to adjust and above all practical. It is to do with moving around as comfortably as possible and in a way that it absolutely necessary for me.
But I do have a couple of human contact experiences that I can recount…
The first was when I was out shopping with a friend. As we left a shop we came across a foreign beggar, about 30 years old, who was sitting on the ground and who had a pylon. As my friend is a devotee of peg legs we stopped and offered him a coin. Communication was almost impossible as the guy didn’t appear to speak any of the languages we knew (English, French, German) but my friend gestured to indicate that I too was disabled. The non-speaker looked at my foot, reached out with both hands and, with the utmost gentleness, caressed my ankle. There then followed an exchange of all-knowing, compassionate regards and we bid him farewell.
The second was when I was working at a sports event for the physically and mentally disabled. In one of the sports halls people were being taught the rudiments of golf and many were sitting on benches waiting their turn at putting. As I was getting tired I found a bench and sat down to watch. The young guy sitting next to me suddenly said, "Hey mister, you must be very tired. Does it hurt?" I told him I was indeed tired but if he was referring to my leg, no it didn’t hurt. Then came the most unexpected question… "Mister, would you mind showing me more of your brace?" This provoked protests from his friends who said, "You don’t ask questions like that" but I told them it was ok and just slightly lifted the leg of my jeans. The youngster was happy; he’d seen what he described as the best brace he’d ever set eyes on.
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6 Comments
Chloe,
I use a KAFO on the left and an AFO on the right, so stairs are not a problem. I understand how sometimes you feel a greater need for paralysis in one of your legs. Paraplegia is not a brain issue but BIID is and therefore, like all things in the brain, it can be “stereo” but often has the balance to one side or even in mono. Thus it seems unlikely that anyone would require something to go wrong with the left arm and the right leg or vice-versa.
As for the stairs.. question of practice. I assume you require quite a low SCI so as to keep control of your hips. If so, you’ll soon learn how to left both legs. I have seen many polio victimes do this. Going down is quite dangerous at first!
Peter
Thank you Peter. I hadn’t actually thought of using a left KAFO and a right AFO. It seems like that might be quite a good fit for me. I’ll have to give that some more thought.
I have a friend, paralysed from the waist down, who can manage stairs with KAFOs. I figure if she can do it then I should be able to do it.
Yeah, going down stairs can be scary. I might fall down stairs, break my back, and become paraplegic. Whoops!
My thing is and always has been right kafo for a totally paralyzed right leg, and left afo for unstable left foot, sequelae of polio. When amputation fantasies come into it, it’s high rak (but not hd). All quite definite in my mind, and always has been as far back as I can recall.
I wear two KAFOs. They are pretty unique; they have very few of the details seemingly sought by most “devotees.” They keep my legs totally straight.
I don’t need paralysis or anything like that; I just need a reason for wearing them that people will believe. I like the way they feel & look; as long as they’re tight & shiny, that’s all I need.
I go down stairs sideways (didn’t think about that, huh?).
My favorite experience while wearing them is the time one of the hottest young ladies I know (AB) stared at them unabashedly and asked me all kinds of questions about them. I love to hang out with her now; she always stares so hard.
Yesterday my partner and I got dressed in our finery and went out for the evening (dinner and opera). I was wearing KAFOs.
On the way back to the parking garage we noticed a short cut through an alleyway with a large flight of stairs going up. We looked at each other. I said “Yeah, I’m gonna go for it” (meaning with both knees locked).
I had done stairs with a similar rise before, but not with a run that short; so the slope was quite substantial. With the run that short, I was not able to go up directly sideways. However, by putting the right leg forward at the same time as going up a step (I was facing left), I was able to manage it. It meant putting a LOT of weight on the left crutch in order to bring the left leg up.
So, I went up diagonally. The passage width was great enough to do it all facing left. Otherwise one could turn around and zig zag.
It pleases me to be gradually making progress with these techniques!
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1 On 17 October, 2008, Chloe said:
This was interesting, Peter. I have some questions, if you don’t mind.
If I am understanding correctly, you need only one leg to be paralysed but you wear braces on both legs? Do the two legs “feel” any different from each other when you are wearing braces? After you get your leg paralysed, will you continue to wear braces on both legs?
The issue is relevant for me because, although I need both legs paralysed, somehow the need feels greater for my left leg. The difference comes up when I do stairs. Whenever I am going out and am likely to confront stairs (dinner or parties at friends’ houses, certain restaurants, etc) I choose leg braces instead of the wheelchair. I have gradually improved my technique of managing stairs while keeping both knees locked. However, some stairs seem too difficult for that, and I unlock the right knee to put the right foot on the next step and use the crutches to bring the left leg up so as to avoid the the right leg being weight bearing (I hope I’m explaining that clearly). It feels completely wrong ever to unlock the left knee in such a circumstance. I’d be happy if anyone has any tips for managing stairs!
Another question: Do you use two crutches? If so, all the time? After you get your LBE amputation, will you be able to get an adaptive crutch for that?