N(P)LD [New (Prosthetic) Leg Day

Nitefly

Good man yerself, @Rocker - that sounds like a huge improvement!

Cheers,

Al.

Grunfeld

The new leg sounds great.  It has been years -- eek, nearly 20 -- since (as a physio) I worked with amputees.  I'd see people pretty soon after surgery and we'd get going on the PPAM aids (I have no idea if they still use them) and it was a tough gig for a lot of people.  What always amazed me was the adaptivity of kids -- within a short time they would be total freaking liabilities charging around the rehab gym at 100mph on artificial legs playing It with their mates.  Much harder for the older amputee.  [EDIT:  This sounds like we made 80 year old amputees try to play "It! and they were crap at it -- we didn't.  I think we should've.  As it happens a lot in that age group were smokers and they'd go out and have a fag -- which give a clue as to how long ago this was].

It's great to hear how things have come on!

bingefeller

Damn.   Happy NPLD!

imalone

Cool insight, hope you get along with the new one. Am I the only one who thought:

Rocker said:

I am told that the Torsion Adaptor will help when I play golf.  That would be a bonus as I need all the help I can get playing golf!

Of the "were you able to play piano before?" joke?

Rocker

@imalone, no I never played golf when I had two legs.  Clay shooting was 'my' sport and to a small extent it still is.  Standing around all day is very hard on my back - you get a lot of standing around at a 100 bird clay shoot.  I tried trap shooting but did not enjoy it - sporting clays is what gets the adrenaline flowing.

I am a natural right handed golfer but have to play the game left handed due to my amputation.  This change was a challenge!!  Hell, golf is hard enough but it took me many months of hard graft and many lessons to figure out how to move the ball from A to somewhere near B.  I putt right handed as it is the most natural.  I carry a right handed 8 iron in my bag in case I end up close to a tree, a river or the wrong side of a bunker.  A friend is a former World Champion One armed golfer, http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/in-full-swing-26451354.html and I copied his one armed swing when using the right handed club.  The right handed club is very useful when my ball ends up on the side of a hill, my objective is to move it 50 or 60 metres down the fairway.  Works a treat.  I play my left handed clubs in the normal traditional way.  Recently I was filmed by our local teaching pro and it made me nervous to see just how precarious my balance is when swinging my driver.

Guitar playing requires me to sit on a drum stool.  I can just about manage the bass standing up.  If I could play bass that is.  Working on that - perhaps one day I will get the hang of it too. 

jd0272

It's all a bit WOW really. Well to me anyway. Watching stuff about limbs being 3D printed on news this morning. £600 for a printed functioning hand! Marvellous stuff!

Lexie1

@ Rocker I have had  the Otto Block Moving Ankle Prosthetics for 6 years now and they have completely transformed my mobility. Yes, they take a little adjusting to at the outset, but within a day or so of wearing them continuously,  you forget about them. Since having them, the lower back pain that many amputees experience has gone, climbing stairs, steps etc has become far easier and generally, the tiredness that I was feeling by the end of the day has gone.

The huge benefit that many would never consider, is that now I can buy any shoes that I want and not immediately have to consider the height of the heel, or insole etc. That was something that used to become a pain when buying shoes and then having to go off and have the foot alignment re set for that particular shoe.

Have a great time with the new undercarriage, I am due replacements next year and will be interested to see what advances have been made since collecting the last pair.

xmrchi

One of the best "new... Something days" I have read in a long time!

johnnyurq

Nice one @rocker and I hope it works out well for you.

Drew_TNBD

Yay science!!

jellyroll

Good luck!

hubobulous

Happy NPLD. That's a really interesting read and glad that technology is improving your day to day life :-)

tbm

Huzzah! Great story. Enjoy the new appendage!

Rocker

Update.

Spent around 10 days really sick.  Very high temperature, no appetite and generally unable to do anything.  On the mend now.

Today I went for my first round of golf with the new prosthesis.  I found that I was hitting the ball straighter than before, the torsion adaptor allows me to 'follow through' better.  Thinking back on my round, I hit some pretty decent shots - putting was my problem today.  The enforced break contributed to my putting woes, I found it difficult to gauge distance and nearly always hit the ball over a metre long.  Reading the line was fairly good as a lot of putts shaved the hole, at the right speed they would drop.

On the course I hit better irons than ever before.  The divots flew 'after' the ball and not to the right which I know is the result of an out to in swing.  Now my swing is in to in.

Forgetting the technical details, today was the first time that I had no welts or abrasions on my stump after playing a round of golf. Top marks to the limb fitters on that score. I was fairly tired after the round and my hips were nearly shot but no pain.  A first for me.  I relished the soup and sandwich afterwards.  You might infer from this post that I am a happy camper.  Got it in one.

Hootsmon

chuffed for ya man

RaymondLin

Glad it's working out for you  

littlegreenman

Awesome that the new leg is working out, and for the better round of Golf.

If it's any consolation, I can't hit through properly with both legs, even after a bunch of lessons! I just play for the walk around, and the beers after!

nanoman

That's a great post. Here's to N(P)LD and continuous improvement.