Introduction


So to start.  Call me Mr. Cellophane.  I was 25 when I created this blog.

At age 3, I had a terrible accident involving a swingset and my head having an unexpected meeting. My head didn't feel very well for a bit after that.  The results of that accident made my right side very weak. That weakness affects me this day.  I have worn an ankle brace since then to counteract that weakness.

Instead, I have developed an abnormal walking style to compensate.  I limp quite gloriously and have done so for most of my life.  It is quite magnificent to behold!

From my childhood to my early adulthood, I did not care at all about what my limp might do to the rest of my body. I was a quite normal boy and normal teenager.  Then, right as adults usually begin to worry about their future health... guess what happened to me!  My therapists had told me before what might occur to my joints.  Now I could actually see that happen in the future.  So I resolved to try to fix the limp.  I decided to go to a new Sensei and figure out how I will break that habit.

Here is a brace; the same version I have been wearing since my first:
Strong and sturdy to steady my ankle, but not very flexible.  If you want a good, solid, heavy but steady hold, you can't beat this one.

When I went to a new Sensei about 8 months ago, he first introduced me to this new combination:

The brace on the left is a dynamic AFO:  while the shoe and sole act to steady the ankle somewhat, the rest acts like a spring when you step.  Then you add this to a knee brace which stops the knee from hyper-extending, and you've got a steady and light hold.  If you put it into a firm shoe it will spring you forward as well.  This would stop one of the main sources of my problem: my knee, hip, and ankle are weak, so they tend to fall back when I move forward.  Thus you have a dragged foot, hip back, shoulders out of whack scenario.  This all depends, however, on whether it all works as expected.  And, as you can see, they kind of look unattractive together.  As I have overwhelmingly beautiful legs (eyes, hair, nose, feet, face, etc., etc., etc.), they also look unattractive with ME.  But, if I wear pants or something else, it's not that bad.

The last thing we've come up with is rather awesome.  I must say.  Here it is:

Marvelous, isn't it?  It's a tiny little device under my knee.  The unaccustomed viewer might not even notice it.  But what is it?  To be brief. It sits on the muscle that lifts up my foot so that it doesn't drag when you swing through. So the device stimulates it during the swing through so that I don't drag the foot. Now here comes the ABSOLUTELY AWESOME part. Everything in the body is related. Because your foot is situated in the right place when you step, your knee is in a better position when you end the step. That makes it less likely to hyper-extend and instead actually hold. Also, because of the more stable swing through, your hip moves more easily with it.  It is called WalkAid.  I have only spent a few days with it but it is AWESOME so far.

So the question running is: one day, will I fix it?  (Sob) (Sob) (Sob)

Hahaha.  I'll keep you updated.  I can promise you one thing, though: it won't be tomorrow.  Fixing a limp isn't just quitting.  I've quit smoking.  When going cold-turkey, you have to commit to never touching a cigarette again.  Those first weeks and months are soo hard.  Eventually it becomes easier, though.  But with changing a habit like this, you have to eventually unconsciously change every step you take.  So I don't know if I'll succeed.  But I can try.

Cheerio.

Mr. Cellophane.