A few years ago had a flare up of chondromalacia patella which is arthritis of the back side of the knee cap. My knee would want to collapse while weight bearing with about 30 degrees of deflection. It was getting worse by the week.

Doc suggested that I take glucosamine. Worked wonders. No more pain. I take a pill about every other day. Knee is back to normal.

Probably more related to old age, my foot started hurting when I first weighted it in the morning. Long story short - now wearing a foot orthosis (arch support) inside my shoe. Works wonders. Those gel liners at Wal-Mart don't do the trick. You need support, not comfortable padding.

I have two now that I rotate through my shoes. My prosthetist made them for me and I highly recommend them.

I've always suggested that new amputees try to find another amputee who walks really well and find out who they go to. Any professional group is only allowed to tell you who provides the service in your area and is not legally able to make a real recommendation. Kinda sucks.

One thing I would suggest to new amputees is to never think that you have to live as
an amputee. You are the same person you were before but you just have
some hurdles before you. So many people get caught up with physical
therapy, occupational therapy, psychological therapy, handicapped
parking permits, etc. Nothing wrong with any of this when needed but
just make sure you don't jump into a lifestyle that is not really
suited to you.

Ok, now that I've broken the ice on the whole blog thing I'm going to dig back through the Google Groups archives and look my any amputee tirades I may have posted which might be useful here. Here's one I found from over two years ago from a discussion about what a new amputee might expect for the rest of their life...

I know a lot of amputees who lead pretty normal lives. Unless you have
a bad fit or some other problem complicating a good fit, you really
should not be in much pain. Believe me, I have my bad days but for the
most part I am normal. There are a lot of people who never know that I
am an amputee until they see me in shorts or if I move in such a way
that my prosthesis dictates and is therefore unnatural.

I am about as active as many of my biped friends. Heck, I'm just
trying to keep up. :)

One thing I discovered when I became an amputee. I was expected to act
as one. I was told to go to physical therapy. I did not.

Lets think about this for a sec. A baby learns to walk by instinct
but with no prior experience, even before it can speak any real
language. Why is it that we as experienced walkers need some other
person to teach us to walk, especially if the therapist is not an
amputee?

I was told about a local amputee support group. I could not stand it
after two meetings. I would have slipped into depression had I
continued to go.

I think that if we are led to believe that life as we know it is over
with then it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Not me! I am going to keep going until I cannot go any more.

I do think that every amputee who does not have additional
complications is quite capable of doing just as much if not more. I
see those who run. I've never done that because I'm too afraid of
tripping and getting injured. But the day that I start acting like a
disabled person is the day that I give up on myself because I am more
able bodied than many people with real disabilities and those people
would probably give anything to be in my shoe...pun intended.

I've always said that a good fit is the single most important factor
in getting back to a normal life. Fortunately I have that.

 

I guess I should have started out my first blog entry with some sort of welcome message but I didn't think of using this blog until I wrote the following for posting on the newsgroup, alt.support.amputee, which I have frequented over the years. I've always tried to pass along wisdom I've gained throughout my experience as an above-knee amputee so that others may benefit.

Leg length for above-knee amputees is pretty crucial to maintaining or at least getting close to proper back alignment while walking. It just sorta makes sense and I have noticed it myself over the years. I cannot speak for below-knee amputees who still have a means of correcting for minor differences in length with their knee and ankle.

I have become pretty keen at telling whether or not my leg is too long or short by as little as 1/8" of an inch. If it's too long I will start stumbling as I carry my prosthetic foot through on the extension phase. It will also make me tired throughout the day.

On the other hand, if my leg is too short, I not stumble but I will limp a little and get tired very easily as my sound leg is constantly walking me "upstairs" with each step. Obviously, this is more pronounced with a greater length difference. In either of these cases, my lumbar back will bother me. Here's a little bit of anecdotal evidence that this is true.

Yesterday I visited my local body shop to get my valve housing reseated because it had a slow leak. Being a new leg of about three months, the socket had settled down into the frame such that I was shorter on that side by almost a half inch.

Matt, the tech there who has his full compliment of God-given toes, told me that he had heard this from many of the AK patients there and had decided to do a little experiment on himself. He placed a 1/8" foot support in only one shoe and walked around like that for three months. He said it wrecked his back after only three days and never got any better until he removed the support. He's now convinced just how crucial leg length is to us.

I suggest that fellow AK amputees check occasionally that their leg lengths are equal as settling of components over time can happen. Try standing with one foot on a door threshold or some other surface that is just slightly higher or lower than your sound leg. Stack thin books or papers to try to gage the difference. And if you notice a difference, go have the length adjusted. You may find some extra energy you didn't realize you had and it may clear up some back pain that was otherwise unexplainable.