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STEPPING OUT OF SCA
To
strive to walk normally, you are going to have to begin thinking
more normally. What does that mean? That means that you need to
shift your focus off the limitations imposed on you because of your
ataxia, and re-focus on how a “normal” person moves. You need to be
that toddler learning to walk and re-learn the basics the correct
way; then use them. You’ve become dependent with your thoughts and
allowed your neurological condition to have too much control. I
made the same mistake. Simply put, it has been a subtle form of
surrender within. We were told we were at the mercy of the
disease. It’s time to take part of yourself back!
As we have relinquished more and
more of ourselves to ataxia, our posture has suffered. Because of
our abnormal wide based gait, shuffling walk, and supporting
ourselves with the furniture in our house, walkers or other people,
we no longer have our body weight centered on our feet. This sets
us up for more instability. We don’t stand up straight, we often
lean onto something, we position ourselves in anticipation for a
potential fall; we no longer trust ourselves. We go through a
process where we put an increasing amount of trust into “something
else” rather that attempt to re-structure ourselves.
Why? Because
we are led to believe we have no choice!
In Starting Tips 2, I explained to you how to
find your correct posture by standing against a wall. Please review
that process if you need to because the following is dependent on
your proper posture. In fact, each succeeding tip builds on the
previous tips. Just as that toddler has to learn the basics, so
must you. Therefore, if you haven’t worked through the other tips,
and learned how to apply them and transfer your weight safely,
you’re going to have some difficulty with this tip. Let’s start the
walking process.
The walking process will be much
easier for you if you do the following exercise first. Pack
yourself in the car and go to a local store. You want one that has
large shopping carts (the you power it yourself kind) and
numerous aisles. Stand behind the cart and bring the push bar
against your belly with your hands. Standing erect with your
butt, shoulders and head in a vertical line with the back of your
heels (just like you were at the wall), plant your weight on your
feet.
Flex your knees and hips and think of taking small
steps.
Do
not lean on the cart handle with your hands and arms! Your
hands are on the cart handle for two purposes only.
First, they are
on the bar to lightly hold the bar against your belly, and for that
you don’t need to grab it.
Secondly, your hands are on the bar in case you need it for support if you stumble or need to
rest.
"How do I know if I’m leaning on the cart without realizing
it?" Try moving your hands without moving the cart or changing your
body position. If you can’t stay exactly how you are standing, and
release your hands without moving, you’re cheating.
Support
yourself.
You will take each small step forward by pushing the cart forward
with your belly. I’ll refer to this as moving your body from your belt. Here’s the
concept. In the dancing world men are taught to “lead” with their
chest. In this way the woman can feel his body movement before he
begins to step. I tried that repeatedly when I started dance
lessons and continued to have difficulty. Much time was spent on
how to correct the end result. More times than not I would end up
on the forward part of my foot, my knees would lock, and invariably
I would fall to one side. My instructor hadn’t worked with someone
with ataxia before and we didn’t put the obvious together. It
finally came to me one day as a “DUH!” moment. Too much of my body
weight was slightly forward of my vertical center of balance before
I would start to move my feet. I was tilting myself forward with a
uncoordinated neurological system and had difficulty compensating
for it.
I know each of you can relate because we all do it almost
everyday without realizing why.
The big break came when another
instructor advised me to move from my belt instead of my chest.
What a difference…….the DUH! So obvious, yet so hidden.
In moving
from the belt what we are actually doing is moving our body forward as a unit
and centering it over our stance as
we walk. And that is precisely where we need it to be. With the
correct posture and moving from your belt, your vertical center
will be exactly where it should be and your feet will provide you
with more security. Make sure you flex your hips and knees in the
process to help yourself move more freely and safer.
Pushing the cart with your belt
will provide you with a good exercise to practice this concept. And
it’s free. Plus, you can do your shopping while you practice and no
one else has to know what you’re doing.
Small steps are a
must and the cart will force you to take small steps.
Try taking a bigger step with the cart and you’ll hit
the bottom bar on the cart.
What a great training device……and they
are everywhere.
I think they made them just for us!!!
As you move slowly forward while
pushing the cart with your belly, your feet will naturally be
centered under you. Or at least they will be if you are standing
erect and not leaning on the cart.
Make sure that your heal is the
first part of your foot to hit the floor as you step forward.
Also, pay attention to what your back foot is doing. Many of
us will allow our foot to “twist” as we roll onto the forward part
of our foot. With the twisting motion the toe of our shoe will
be pointed inward instead of straight ahead. When this
happens, instead of stepping naturally off the front of our shoe as
we should be doing, we step off the outside forward part of our
shoe.
This creates an unstable platform for us and sets up a
chain reaction where the end result is a stumble.
Therefore, the placement, control and follow through of both feet
are equally important. Don’t allow that back foot to turn in.
Step forward in a straight line, BUT
do not try to walk the tight rope! That will come later.
This is not a
sobriety test. Imagine each foot is on its own plank of wood. The
object is to keep that foot on that plank as you walk. No crossing
over and no stepping off the plank is the object of the game.
Flex
as you move; play with it. Each forward step is taken with your
toes straight ahead. Roll your foot through the stepping process
and push yourself forward with your toes as you move. Roll off your
back foot from the front of your shoe, not the side.
Imagine you’re
trying to sneak up on someone. Your steps must be deliberate, quiet
and soft.
Flex those joints like you used to do when you were
normal.
Strive to be that person again!
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