Crutches with the grace of movement and life as normal as possible - Crutches can be beautiful,can't they? Most people maynot think so but I do - Personal - http://maxpages.com/happymspage/Crutches_page

UPDATE July 11,2005 Lowest priced folding crutches on the planet! Put millennial crutches in your browser search The company www.1-800-wheelchair.com These crutches are
going to put you way ahead of your tratidional underarm crutches and probably forearms too.
They have innovative ergonically designed comfort not found in the usual tratidional crutches.After all you probably will be using them a long time too.
The ergonomic grip is designed to save you from getting carpel tunnel as easyily as traditional crutches. The blood will flow properly to arms and hands.You will find less pain in your back, arms elbow shoulder,wrists and fingers
But one of the best thing about Millennial crutches is they are foldable with their push pins quickly so they will take up much lessspace in tight areas where you might want to sit like on airplanes .
RET
An interesting decoration for your crutches;www.lemonaidcrutches.com

Update Dec.4,2003 In the need for crutches that LOOK Good?
Visit www.brokenbeauties.com
They have for about $40 a cloth cover for underarm crutches.
In fact they have a variety of crutches covers which I have to admit are really classy.There are pockets for various items like a cell phone. RET

Dec.5,2003 See www.crutchcozies.com Now with your underarm crutches
you can gain both comfort and great looks .yes crutches are becoming a
beauty aid if you need them.RET We deserve the decorations so don't
look ordinary

UPDATE Its seems like a long time ago I got three pairs of these
crutches covers,and I still like them. RIchard June 27,2008

UPDATE JUNE 27,2008
Don't be surprised if your walking distance continues to shrink with time.It will but learn to accept it and do more in your scooter to cover the larger distances you wish to travel.

.

Its not the speed but the duration that helps the heart and circulation system.
I have to take a short sit down on the way usually.I also do better with
underarm crutches.RET
Revision: May 21,2006 My walking circut has shrunk to just one mile lately

Source for folding crutches;go to www.awardprosthetics.com
their address is#112-3823 Henning Dr.Burnaby BC Canada V5c6P3
or call (604)298-0236 They have been really benificial to me in travel!!!!
see their web site at www.awardprothetics.com/crutches

UPDATE:May 19,2002 If you have folding crutches you know how you love them.
I bought mine through the Internet,costing $220USD.But many trips have proved
that it a well spent money.I time after time I find myself in squeezed places where traditional crutches would be my second handicap.Try being in a jeep on a mountain road in
Corfu,a Greek island of nearly all mountains with dozens of hairpin turns,or in crouded restaurants,economy air seats.I could go on but I owe my happy travels to having them.
Tricks with crutches? thy this one getting your luggage off the airports carosel
We always pack a lot and they are heavy.Find a place where you can pull it without hitting
yourself or some one else.Once in motion it will slide off the moving carosel.

UPDATE:Dec.9,2001 You many not agree with my statement Crutches can be beautiful.
But after you have used them as long as I have,you start to realize without them you
would be just sitting,probably in a wheelchair.Crutches put you on the same level
as your peers.

UPDATE June 27,2008 I still say the same thing ,Crutches are beautiful ,even more so once you need a wheelchair nearly all the time.

If you are too timid to try them,then your life is going to be dull.Your hobble
with your cane ,and maybe hanging on to some one's arm will continue to be your life style.
Ladies with husbands: Abandment by hubbies is well known.Do you think you hanging on
to his arm will further endear you to him?Don't you think a independent acting wife
would be more interesting to him?I think so!With you using crutches and getting about
on your own,you will be harder to let go of.If you are too dependent upon him it may
just flush him out and loose him sooner.I can't guarentee that if you use crutches he
will stay,but I do know in my own case my wife seems to enjoy me being more independent.

Remember you can still be sexually vibrant with crutches.Add the right jewelry,clothing.
do your nails regularly.Don't over do the makeup.Look at our model on each page.She has crutches but certainly isn't dull or unintersting.

In the fact you do need them,(crutches)they will save you from having atrophy of leg muscles.
With atrophy if the leg muscles aren't used the muscle cells turn to fat cells which
will NOT do any work,but they will tax the remaining muscle cells to work harder thus get tired sooner.We all know how fast fatigue in MS hits us. A sleek looking body on a disabled person will not go unnoticed. But too much accululation of fat will
just rate you a single glance.

Therein is the reason I consider my idea that crutches beautiful because they keep me from loosing
muscle tissue.A walker would do as much for you,as crutches because with crutches you
are using laws of physics(leverage) of arms to assist the weak legs.

The fact that you can get about better will alow you a wider scope to your lifestyle.
Also allowing you to travel and go places where are still off limits to wheelchairs
and walkers which will take as much space a wheelchair to get through a door.There is
no going sidewise as you will do with experience when using crutches. RET

Update :Oct.8th 2001 Traveling in the airplane with crutches.
I have done it many times in all sizes of aircraft. While it may beclumbsy in the smaller craft the larger the plane the more you need them just to get to the restroom.
You should get preferred seating .
Lately I have flown Southwest Air and they let us crips lead first .Their policy is there are no reservedseats but they wouldn't let us sit in the emergency exits. But there are many other nice seats especially when you have first choice.
Some flight attendents like to put your crutches in the overhead bins but then they have to get them down for you all the time and eventually they will just tell you to put them at the rear of the seats in front of you.
RET

UPDATE: August 27 2001 We are back from our wonderful trip to the Scandinavian countries
They were great,and I would love to do it again but under different circumstances.
I got along OK with my crutches and AFOs as that is the only way I would do it. In a wheelchair as some of the passengers on our ship were,didn't do much shore leave.
You have to be nimble and resourceful when you are on a trip like this.You get the front seat on the busses for shore trips. Augmented with my wheelchair
Probably one of the hardest things you will encounter is getting off the ship down the gangway.They are frequently steep and difficult with crutches but I never fell.
The last two days of our trip we were on our own in Copenhagan.Beautiful city but much
walkingI usually succeeded in out walking my wife,who isn't in too good a shape.
If you are planning a ardigious and physically demanding trip see to it you prepare yourself with some body build up long before you go.
I swim a lot in fact I swim 1/4 mile a day with only 2 days off a week.It builds strong arms ,better to use the crutches to your advantage.It will also build strength in to your weak MS affected legs. Try it.It works! RET

UPDATE:AUG 9 2001 My neigbors may think I'm a little nuts going on such a long trip
with bags,crutches and AFOs.I got new tips for the trip,as well as hand grips.
If you can you do it!!! I have know others that have even traveled by themselves
using crutches and having full leg braces .They are the ones that inspire me.
I had only one well wishers in our community,guess who? the woman who inspires me who is a post polio with leg braces on her for the second time in her life.Yes she travels by
herself since her husband died three years ago.
While my able bodied friends are a bit green with envy ,they all doubted if they would
go on such a trip if they were me. Too bad ! RET

UPDATE August 1,2001 Say what you want but crutches will always help you get where
you want to go especially if your gait is poor.The cane just doesn't have the right physics working for you.Don't be a stand off ,try them as you will be surprized.
RET

US dept of Commerce says there are 6.4 million people in the USA who use crutches or
a wheeled walker regularly.Most of these people will continue to use such most the
rest of their life.I put myself in this group.Since we are in such a group,We need
to rethink our lives to live better with this mode of walking.RET
June 14,2001 Update: I was asked recently by a brave able body friend "Don't you
ever get tired of walking with your crutches.I had to use crutches for 3 months when
I broke my leg and it was boring"No it just becomes part of your self.After years of
crutches you just don't think about the inconviences.It is your way of life and with out
them I would be using a wheelchair full time.Which isn't the end of the world either.
I have too many things to think about than to worry about the crutches.They just are ,
and will long remain as such.RET

Crutches can be beautiful,Can't they? Many people think Zoe Koplowitz is a beautiful
person with her crutches in a marathon. I think so.The last time I saw her at Orlando speaking the crutches were purple.She dresses nicely and is the perfect lady.I wish I could
do what she does every year,26 miles!
There is organization out in California called Mariposa ,Spanish for
butterfly. They concentrate on making the disabled feel like they are someone.
and not spoiled merchandice. Itis run by the United Methodist church.
www.satcom.net/mariposa.
Too often we are made to feel like able bodied people don't want us around.
You become known as the guy with crutches and AFOs or just braces,as they wouldn't know
about the letters AFO.You are John Higens or Mary Sanders you are the person with
crutches or the woman in a wheelchair.They like to define you for your assistive
devices.Why can we say his is the fellow with the closed mind or pointed head?
Never mind you have two college degrees,or that you pay all your bills on time.
Never mind that at your church you are a tither,giving 10% of your income.I sometimes get
the impression that the "normal folks" would rather you not come at all.No body will shake
hands with you because they think you can't.
One usher even wanted to carry my program for me because my hands were busy.
The next Sunday I brought a backpack which I carried with my hands .
But get used to being snubbed.It's their way.

Life with crutches while it's nothing none of us would choose,comes sometimes
as part of MS or many other chronic diseases.They are assistive devices some of us
can't get along without.They become a perminent part of us.When people see us , that
is their association or image of us.If you just had a pair from the pharmacy for
a temporary thing like hip surgery or something like that you get by with cheap wooden
or aluminium adjustable variety which will soon if used for any length of time start
to click and make noise,announcing your coming down the street.
This arrangement isn't my idea of a full long term situation to put enjoyment in
your life.While your insurance company probably pay for the really expensive crutches,
you owe it to yourself to enjoy what will be a partner of your for years to come.
PS. I would appreciate your feed back on this topic.Please email RET1000@aol.com

Don't let you crutches become your second handicap.They should reflect the fact
that you personally recognize your disability and you understand it is here to stay.
The colors available if you can afford it may want more thn one pair.Easy walkers
are great for their feature of colors.You should also consider something which isn't
ajustable.You aren't going to change,why do you need adjustable they will just wear

While a disability is no fun,at least lets look like it doesn't bother us .
Your equipment will reflect your attitude and acceptance of your disability.
Also does your smile tell a lot about the happy life you have carved
inspite of the disease.

out and make noise.
Make sure you have the best tips available as the arm you save is yours.It is very
easy to damage your rotorcuffs or worse.If you has just started with your use of crutches
and you have a disease like MS or post polio associate with some one who has used them
a long time and pick their brain for advice.They will be able to tell you many stories
over a nice drink.

Your selection of style in crutches will have to square with the shoes you must wear.
If you are fitted with AFOs make sure you get the style which isn't plastic up the
total back part of your calves on you legs. No matter what the orthotist tells you
your are the one who will have to wear them.In all sorts of weather and they can get
hot.If you live in the south or some long hot season climate like Florida Be ware
Get the style with the least skin contact.Also don't let then talk you into some
clodhopper shoes which you will grow to hate.Pick the style you want and take them to
the orthotist to install on a plate attached to the double sturip hook up.
In selecting a style of crutches think comfort first and then the feel of them
If they are great in feel and light weight you will be able to go further with out
fatigue. This is true for most people in a perminate disability status.
Think also of your image to others .The neatness or coolness of the sticks you use
are a way of saying I'm good at my adapted life style and I'm well adjusted at the
disability.
One friend of mine said after I had just gotten one of Thomas Fetterman's more
expensive pairs of crutches just for me and in black." You look better now that with
those old crutches. You look and sound like your adjustment is complete and life is still
enjoyable for you"
That is what I call image making,not just another crip.RET

The troubles you have in the beginning will only teach you to eventually thrive with
the crutches.You will with practice get off and on escalators with packages.
Do steps when necessary. I met a man in a museum once whom illuminated me a lot about
the value of crutches over the wheelchair I was in then.He had both braces and crutches
and just loved with such ease.He did the steps and skipped the elevator.He had been doing
it for years.After a year with my crutches in the beginning of my MS I started to see
I was getting good.
I purposely went out of my way to train and gain in my ability to get by and do it
with some style and still not get tired too quickly.If you aren't happy with your self
the assistive devices will become your anchor or millstone stopping you from enjoying
your life to the fullest.This was a quote fro a woman who I met in the early days of
adapting to crutches,She had used then for years when I met her in a hardware store.
As she laughted at me ,she also was going to teach me to do it better.We got to know
each other very well and she imparted a few tricks which ahd taken her years . But by the
same it took me extra effort just to try them.One was her quick way of crossing streets.
While the swing through gait.It will wear you out fast but you beat the light.
There is actually a principle of physics that we have working for us when we are using
crutches.

The arms and legs are working together. Look at the fourlegged animals.They can with
shorter legs get about very fast.Your arms assisting your legs save the legs from
loosing control especially if you are like me The feet don't always do what i want
them to do but the arms still obey.Another thing you will be amazed at is how nice it is
in the water.I'm really in my element in the pool.Some people who don't know me at the
pool are also surprized at my water ability.It is one place where I'm equal or superior
to the able bodied person.RET4-23-2001

Your fleshy part of your hand is a good place to bear your weight while carrying
something with the fingers.With practice it builds up the strength of the fingers.
My grip test at the therapy center was allsome in relation to where the normal is pegged.
It's a matter of years.But you will see a big change even in the second month of use
of crutches.After one year you will probably be at 85 % of your potential of doing
tricks while walking with crutches.

Eileen Lukeman and Richard Tanner

FL.

Eileen(Lobosgirl) and Richard (RET1000) both at aol.com

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