sNOw anxiety

Well, it's that time of year again when the evil white stuff (the 'devil's dandruff' as one friend calls it!) dons the ground turning all those with bambi-legs into quivering wreaks! Remarkably, I'm not as terrified as last winter - because there's no pain!

I discussed my 'snow anxiety' with my physio last week because whilst out walking a week earlier my stick went from under me after hitting a patch of black ice. Nothing happened. Last year that would have resulted in groin pain. HOO-BLOODY-RAY! So we talked about it momentarily whilst doing exercise and he had to go and jinx it by saying "oh it won't be as bad as last winter, that was exceptional, it might snow, but it'll just last a day like it normally does!". Well the whole country's been sitting below 0oC for mmm....a week now, there's snow outside and it's iced up all the pavements. *sigh* thanks mr. physio!

I did take up a recommendation though. Ice cleats for the walking stick!

Genius! Been out with this on the stick already and it's great. It's not going to stop you losing your footing though!! Beware, but it means you don't have to worry about the stick going out from under you if you are still inclined to put weight through it. Yaktrax's are what you want for your feet (www.yaktrax.co.uk).

Thankfully I'm at a stage where I'm not actually putting weight through it and I could, if necessary, walk without it....but I'd be really slow and I'd tire quickly because the hip-gait-sway thing I have is still there. Although, the physio is paying off and it's going (just really really slowly!). I've no expectations of exactly when I might get rid of it..... it's not healthy to beat myself up about still having my hippy-gait because when it comes down to it, I'm not in pain, I have zero stiffness and can actually walk and do the stuff everyone else can do.

In the last 2 weeks I've progressed into the physio gym to push weights. I've been really bad about getting into the gym on my own time though! I'm still doing everything else at home and progressing through increased resistance in the therabands - including using 2 bands at a time, which feels a little like a bondage session! But, it works.

Talking of which.....

A fall to start the year

I fell on black ice this morning. Like someone pulled the rug out from underneath me, crack down on my coccyx. Thankfully I was wearing several layers so there was cushioning and nothing's broken. But hip to toe on my right side is now unbearable to put weight through the joint. Well I don't have much cartilage in my right hip to protect my bones from that impact. I didn't make it to work (and somehow I feel guilty for this?) and I don't feel very happy. When you live with hip pain anyway, extra little traumas can tip you over into the category of 'temporarily immobile' very easily.

On a more positive note, at least I'll be getting my hip block on monday so any extra inflammation I've just piled onto the joint due to the fall will be getting a blast with a massive dose of anti-inflammatories.

Walking in a winter wonderland?

So this last week has seen a significant proportion of the UK covered in a blanket of snow. To be fair, I think snow makes the landscape look fabulous, conjures up romantic images of snuggling down with a hot choc by a roaring fire and dreaming of the future. But the reality for someone who's mobility impaired, snow and ice are nothing short of a nightmare.

It affects you physically. My muscles have stiffened up so much as the temperatures have plummeted well below zero. This has caused a fair amount of pain in the hip by the end of the day and today I've been suffering a suspected trapped nerve of some sort probably due to tense muscles. It has eased off in the last hour after using my TENS but it was a real tear-jerking sharp pain every time I put weight through my right leg.

Probably my biggest problem is down to the over-exaggerated external rotation I have with my right leg. I have to be excessively careful on any slippy surface as my right foot naturally swivels outwards and if this movement occurs too fast, I pull a lot of muscles around the hip and groin. This has happened on an over-polished laminate floor once, imagine an icy surface! The pain that accompanies this jerked movement is indescribable. I can only liken it to someone trying to dislocate my hip with a sharp pull of my foot and failing. And that pain lasts days. It can be incapacitating.

So any pain induced due by slipping in the bad weather starts to affect you psychologically. You start to display avoidance behaviour as you don't want to go out where there's a potential chance of slipping or falling (even if its a light frost). Your social life might start to suffer as you try to minimise any trip you must make that involves going outside. You then start to compulsively worry - it starts off as worrying about slipping and falling, and then escalates as you do begin to avoid going outside to worrying about getting food and other essentials into your home.

It turns into quite an exhaustive cycle. You slip or fall on the snow or ice, you are now in pain, you avoid going out until absolutely necessary, your muscles are tense and stiffen up, thus more likely to slip or fall and the cycle begins again.

I'm constantly amazed at people who seemingly just stride across large patches of thick sheet ice and they stay upright! I shuffle, stop, shuffle, slip, stop, calm down, shuffle shuffle......and eventually get to my destination, hopefully without falling, and by that point both my legs are aching and exhausted! That eventually leads to hip pain later in the day, so I don't even have to slip for this weather to cause me pain! Can't win eh?!

Only 2-3 more months of this, bring on spring time!! Merry christmas :o)