The new socket is progressing well – a few weeks back I went in for my cast, which is always when things start to feel a bit more real! For me it’s all pretty uninteresting at this stage since it’s been a regular happening from when I was a kid, but I imagine it’d be a bit weird for someone new to being an amputee!

So for the uninitiated, here’s what generally happens – off go the trousers and replace with a weird off-white cotton unitard that goes down your real leg and over the stump. Tie the end off under the stump pirate-style, cut the shoulders on the unitard and tie it like a toga to tighten up on the correct side of the body, stand over some plastic sheeting and have cold, wet plaster wrapped around your stump Having a good amount of balance helps for this bit, so I’m right at home since I’ve been an amputee since I was a baby.

Anywho, after a bit the wet plaster starts to set and turns from being cold and wet to warm. It’s kinda weird, but I’d hazard a guess it isn’t unlike having a cast put on your arm or leg after breaking a bone or something. Once it’s set, off comes the cast and you clean yourself up by brushing off the plaster. You’ll invariably get plaster seeping through to your underwear, so if you don’t want to ruin your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles undies, wear something expendable

Actually, particularly to the guys, I have a piece of golden advice – if you’re being cast over your stump, I’d recommend shaving or waxing your stump in prep, because when that cast comes off, all that hair’s coming with it.

Was it inappropriate to go into that kind of detail? Hopefully not. After all, you’re going to have to deal with it, so not talking about it won’t make it go away or anything

Anywho, so that covers getting the cast done – next time I’ll be talking about the test socket stage. I’ll continue to update as we go, so just keep track of the 2010 New Prosthesis tag for all the posts related to this topic.

Related posts:

1. Getting my prosthesis replaced (2010), part 1: starting the process
2. Cool prosthesis stuff
3. Airport security and your prosthesis – always an adventure!

Anywho, I caught up with my specialist and the doctor on Monday last week, and the application has been submitted for processing. I’m told this usually takes a fortnight, and once they’ve been given the green-light, I’ll make an appointment to have a new socket cast to my stump.

I really should have looked into having a new socket put together a while ago – the stump continues to change over time and to its environment, and I have a feeling a lot of the problems I’ve had over the past 12 months have been to do with my stump no longer fitting the mould of my socket as well as it used to. These changes are caused by all sorts of variables from what I understand from a kinaesthetic viewpoint – muscle tone, overall weight of the amputee, usage of the stump, changes in gait, responding to the shape of the socket – so four years on one socket is probably a bit too long.

I think the mentality originates from what I was told as a child – growing up, I’d have a new prosthesis built each year to accommodate the fast pace you grow as a child and adolescent. Back then, I was told that, once an adult, you don’t have new legs built anywhere near as frequently, so that impression still sits with my attitude towards my prosthesis. There’s also the terrible Australian idiom, “She’ll be right”, I have a habit of subscribing to, and that probably hasn’t helped either since I figure any pain is a passing thing and I should just build a bridge and get over it, so to speak

So, new leg, new opportunities? My specialist is looking at introducing some tweaks to the design to allow more flexibility for the stump whilst in the socket, but also with greater suction. We’ll also be looking at adding a more robust knee to the arrangement, though it’ll still be pneumatic as I prefer the practicality of the pneumatic knees in the same price bracket as the hydraulics – higher end of the cost scale I reckon I’d slide over to hydraulic units that offer more sophisticated features, but I’m limited by what’s provisioned under local medical schemes as there’s no way we could afford to spend $1000s on my prosthesis when Wifey and I have a Gen-Y mortgage to maintain. Mind, the support these days is significantly improved from when I was a kid, so I’m not complaining about the existing government support for amputees, just pointing out that I can’t afford or justify the cost of going outside those boundaries given everything else.

I’ll continue to update as we go, just keep track of the 2010 New Prosthesis tag for all the posts related to this topic.

Related posts:

1. Getting my prosthesis replaced (2010), part 2: having the socket cast
2. Cool prosthesis stuff
3. Happy 2010!

The other week I was taking Wifey out shopping (because I’m an awesome husband), and when out we walked into a video game store (because I’m also proficient in nerdisms) I noticed another guy who looked in his late teens or early 20s in crutches. Since I’m a bit nosey by nature, I instinctively looked to his feet, and noticed he only had one leg. I couldn’t tell if he was an above-knee or below-knee amputee, but still, it was there (or rather, it wasn’t ).

My first instinct was to walk up to him and say “Hi” and see how he was going, purely on the basis of him being an amputee, but I hesitated… I mean, I’m pretty comfortable with having only one leg and talking to people about it, but I know not all amputees feel this way. What if the loss of his limb and talking about it upset him? What if he misinterpreted my good intentions and thought I was poking fun at him or drawing unnecessary attention? What if he’s actually been a long-term amputee and his stump was knackered, and the reason he was getting around the place on crutches was because of that and thought I was being condesecending? I was wearing shorts that day with the titanium pole exposed so he would have easily been able to see I was a fellow amputee, but still, I was worried.

So I didn’t say anything, because I was concerned about coming off without the good intentions that I had.

The question I’m asking myself aloud is – is it cool to go up to a fellow amputee and just say “Hi” and ask how they’re doing?

It’s weird, whenever I see another amputee out and about I always have that urge. I know it must be human instinct, but still – that little voice of hesitation is always there.

One of the few times I’ve acted on it was a feew years ago when I was walking to catch a train home after Uni finished for the day – I was walking with Wifey (well, she wasn’t Wifey back then since we weren’t married ) and came to a stop along the footpath where one of gates for bike/vehicle access to the Uni was located. As I was standing there or walking up to it, I noticed a guy on his bike had one leg. So, being the person I am, I stopped for a chat. I was also my usual subtle self, pointing to his leg and stating, “Hey, I have one of those too”. The guy looked at me with this kind of inquisitive look (possibly verging on delivering a headbutt) so I reached down and pulled up the leg on my jeans, revealing my prosthesis like the shining symbol of awesome gimpyness that it is.

And that was it – I reckon we stood and chatted for about 20 minutes, exchanging stories and experiences, before I realised I wasn’t going to catch the train on time if I didn’t hustle. While I did catch the train on time, I didn’t have enough of a buffer to grab a couple of freshly fried cinnamon doughnuts from the doughnut place. Bummer. Would have been a perfect afternoon then

Going back to my original story – owing to this happening, I’m looking at ways that maybe I can get involved in the wider amputee community. I’m not sure in what capacity at this stage, but I’ve been meaning to join the forums over at the excellent Limbs 4 Life website, which I’ve mentioned previously and currently have links setup on the blog’s sidebar so people can easily access the site from here. I’m not such how else I want to involve myself in the community at this stage (there’s ultimately only so much time free during the week), though Wifey’s been really supportive and has encouraged me to get more involved and help other people out due to my positive attitude towards my leg.

Autumn 2010 cover of amplified

For those who haven’t checked out their site before, I’d encourage you to stop by and check it out – they’ve also recently released the latest edition of amplified, a quarterly magazine published via their website as a high quality PDF. I took the time to read through the latest issue in full (thanks Wifey ), and there were some great articles and personal experiences therein. There’s also (as of next issue) going to be the chance for amputees to write in and ask questions. Best of all is that it’s free, so no cost for access to an extremely professional publication on a niche topic. Brilliant work.

Hmmm, I think I got sidetracked there, sorry about that!

Anywho, just wanted to share the irrational side of my personality when it comes to seeing other amputees. Hopefully I’m not the only one

Related posts:

1. Wii Fit and amputees – first impressions!
2. On self-defense with a walking stick
3. Should amputees be allowed to compete with other martial artists?

So, the question I rolled around in my head was – should amputees be allowed to compete with other martial artists?

The above is an interesting scenario – on the one hand, I think it’s awesome that he’s gone ahead and participated in an MMA match despite his disability, and feel quite strongly that he shouldn’t have been disqualified. On the other hand, knowing how much potential damage a prostheesis can inflict on a person, particularly some of the edges and parts relating to the knee, supporting titanium pole and so forth, I can see that there may be grounds in terms of safety of the prosthesis during a match.

In some ways, I’d argue that there simply being a prosthesis isn’t unsafe per se. The prosthesis is merely a tool that can used and manipulated as a weapon, no different to a knee, fist, elbow, etc. In fact, due to the greater degree of movement and kinetic energy that can be harnessed, it could be argued that these natural extensions of the body are no less safe than a prosthesis, it all comes down to the use thereof. For example, if I were to strike with a roundhouse kick, my prosthesis would likely cause a significant impact – however, due to the way kinetic energy can be manipulated via muscle and hard bone, I imagine that a roundhouse kick by a seasoned martial artist would arguably have greater impact. I have compared my kicking techniques to my instructors and other experienced martial artists I have trained with, and I would actually believe their strikes are actually more powerful than something I can generate. This is reflected in Eric’s article, noting that experienced athletic prosthetist Jan Stokosa found that while sparring with below-amputee Ron Mann, it was his real leg that caused greater impact compared to his prosthesis.

One of the disadvantages of a prosthesis compared to fully-functional limbs is that we don’t have the same degree of control compared to a physical leg owing to the lack of muscles, and this lack of control could well be grounds for arguing issues against its use (i.e. unintentional damage or injury due to the relative instability of the leg). Mind, contrary to that, I’ve seen some pretty scrappy MMA bouts, and I don’t think controlled striking is necessarily a universal component that all participants believe in; this does make sense in the spirit of MMA though, given its potential to simulate “real” combat, rather than point-based or light contact sparring quite common amongst “traditional” martial arts styles in the West. Mind, I certainly wouldn’t have the balls to compete in an MMA match, looks too full-on for my sensibilities!

As a point of comparison, if it’s relevant, whenever I spar with other martial artists I do two things – first up, I give them advanced warning to watch how they strike in case they unintentionally hurt themselves on the prosthesis. Secondly, I make it a habit not to actually strike using my prosthesis during sparring – this is more in line with my philosophy that I don’t believe I can control the leg to such a degree that I can guarantee there won’t be unnecessary impact to my sparring partner.

But MMA is arguably quite different to a lot of sparring I would do in class – if your body has a natural advantage (athletic, muscular, experience), does the presence of a prosthesis make much of a difference to the spirit of a match if it’s considered simply a function of the body, akin to the aforementioned attributes? When grappling arts like Brazilian Jujutsu were introduced into MMA competitions and proved an effective (and arguably essential) part of a combatants’ repertoire, the style wasn’t banned – rather, participants had to learn how the system worked and how to counter it. In that sense, is the presence of a prosthesis any different?

As an amputee, I can assure you that whilst there may be advantages to having a prosthesis during such a match, there are also a huge amount of disadvantages – balance, limited control, lactic acid buildup in the stump, incredible amount of energy expenditure to move/use the limb compared to an able-bodied competitor. The question is – do the disadvantages even out the advantages?

There’s also the fact that there aren’t many opportunities for amputee martial artists to be recognised and compete if they wish – I would be absolutely thrilled if karate or something similar would get introduced at a Paralympic level, as the only martial art currently available is judo, and participation is based on the basis of your eyesight-related disability. There is no avenue for amputees to compete.

I’m pretty on the fence with this one, hence why I’ve jumped back and forth on either side of the argument… I know it may be a little convoluted, but hopefully I’ve helped stimulate some discussion on the situation.

On a final note, for those interested in reading more about Ron Mann, check out the following sites:

• Disabled Sports USA – Athlete Profile: Martial Arts Pro Kicks Way to Top
• Xable.com – Ron Mann: Amputee Ulimate Fighter

He has also run some workshops and competitions at the Extremity Games – according to the website, the next one is happening next month in Texas. It’s definitely an event I’d love to go to, but putting aside the money factor (gotta love those Australian mortgages!), I’d want to get into more shape before thinking about heading over there to compete

Huge props to Eric on his excellent report on this issue and for getting in touch – I just wish I checked my mail a little earlier so my response could have been more useful! I highly recommend you check it out to get the full story, it makes for a great read:

Not going down without a fight on his prosthetic leg: Agency says war vet’s bout broke law as technology and martial arts converge.

Related posts:

1. On spontaneously walking up to fellow amputees and saying “Hi”
2. Wii Fit and amputees – first impressions!
3. Core strength – martial arts complementing life as an amputee

So, update on how I’m going – erm, leg’s not holding up too well The issues that cropped up a week or two back have come back again, so it’s out with the walking stick again to keep me company I’m not sure why the stump’s not healing up as quickly as it normally does, I suspect it’s to do with the location of where the split skin currently is and the fact it’s in constant pressure, whether it be wearing the prosthesis or not.

So, I have to exercise something I’m not all that good at – patience

So, I’ll be taking an extended break, longer than I first thought when I took a week or two off in November. I’ll have to make sure I don’t indulge too much over the break as well, since I won’t be able to exercise as much!

This does raise a couple of questions though – how do I exercise whilst trying to minimise excess physical impact to my stump? I want to use the next month and a half until classes start again in January to get back into weight training, and I reckon this might be able to float the balance between being able to have a good workout, but do it without excess pressure on the rear of the stump since I can do a slew of different exercises on the bench, rather than standing.

The other thing I’m considering doing is working on adapting some of my core techniques to being able to do them standing on one leg. Taking a note out of Jesse’s (of the Martial Explorer) book and his interest in practical application of martial to real-world scenarios, I thought this is something I should be looking at. While I’m generally wearing my leg while I’m awake and out and about, there will be times where I’m going to be without my prosthesis, whether it be because I’ve mangled my stump or damaged my leg. So, I’m conscious that, in the spirit of trying to be a well-rounded martial artist, it’s important that I consider broadening my skillset to cope with performing at least a handful of upper-body techniques if ever I need them. So, I figure while I’m a bit mangled, it may not be such a bad idea to roll in an exploration of some of these techniques with my condition.

So, while there are definitely some negatives with where things are at, there are also some opportunities in there as well. I’ll update as I go I’m actually a bit excited about exploring what techniques can be transferred to training on a single leg, hopefully the resultant posts won’t be too convoluted!

Related posts:

1. Transferring martial arts from two legs to one leg (literally)
2. Stupid stump
3. Mangling my leg (again :P)

I actually hadn’t heard of this before, despite the fact I’ve had my awesome leg of awesomeness since I was a year or two old, so it was great to hear it getting a bit of exposure, and I thought I’d try and do my bit to promote it and talk about it. Particularly special was that Melissa Noonan, co-founder of Limbs 4 Life (a not-for-profit organisation supporting amputees through peer-support programs and an excellent website with forums for people to post in), was a recipient of of the 2009 Social Inclusion Award for all of her hard work helping out fellow amputees and their loved ones.

I think in the lead up to next year’s day I’ll see if there’s something I can get involved in to help out or just celebrate the day. Hopefully this little plug here will wander out into the various search indexes floating online to draw attention to the event, as I think it’s an extremely worthwhile cause.

In the meantime, I’d encourage you to check out the International Day of People with Disability website (http://www.idpwd.com.au/), as well as Limbs 4 Life (http://www.limbs4life.com/). I’ll be adding links to both sites to the side navigation after I post this up.

Related posts:

1. Archive: I belong to the international order of stupid
2. On spontaneously walking up to fellow amputees and saying “Hi”
3. Airport security and your prosthesis – always an adventure!

The bummer is that this throws my training regime completely up in the air, as it means I definitely won’t be able to train outside of class, and wholistically, I definitely won’t be able to grade before the end of the year. I know martial isn’t all about the grading, but I like to set goals and achieve them, and am a little bummed that I’ll be falling behind that target I thought I could achieve. Not that it’s really something I could have avoided as I didn’t know the wound hadn’t completely healed over, but still, it’s a bit disappointing.

Still, all the extra effort has not gone to waste by any means – all training is good training, after all – so I’ve now revised my goal to grade up by the end of Q1 2010, and will try to train hard and get myself to a level of expertise so I can grade again before the end of next year.

Related posts:

1. Mangled stump
2. I mangled my stump dancing to 80s Michael Jackson
3. Stupid fun happy photo time

If you’re interested in reading up on what I’ve done in the past to alleviate some of the aches you get whilst driving for an extended period of time, feel free to to check out the post in question – I’m not sure how helpful it’ll be for other amputees, but I thought it might prove useful to someone else out there apart from me!

Related posts:

1. Amputee country driving
2. Cool prosthesis stuff
3. Core strength – martial arts complementing life as an amputee

The issue made itself pretty obvious by the time I got up Friday morning – on the back of my stump towards the upper part of the leg (the area that absorbs a lot of the impact when you walk in your prosthesis; I’ve also heard it called the “seat” of the stump, given the bone structure around the area allows the stump to sit on the rear supporting area of the prosthesis), I had a sore that had become inflamed and the skin had actually split open, meaning that whenever I walked with the prosthesis on, it was stressing and tearing the skin as I walked or sat down. I kept off the leg on Friday and took it easy over the weekend, using my walking stick wherever possible, I was hoping things were back to normal by the end of the weekend, so I took the dog for a walk Sunday afternoon around the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I probably walked a little too much, because come Monday, I was only able to get half a day’s wear out of my prosthesis before I had to go home and remove it and try and rest it up for the rest of the day. While I was back at work the next day, I was heavily reliant on the walking stick for the rest of the week as I tried to get my stump to heal.

The scary thing about this is that the problems I had with my leg around the summer of 2005/2006 that eventually saw me taking nearly a year off from training started out very similarly to this – it starts with a small sore with split skin, and from there it eventually became a chronic injury that became exasperated by constant use and wear of the stump. It was bad for me for work as I had to eventually take time off to let my stump heal, we changed the interface in the socket to a silicone “sock” and I took nearly 12 months off from karate training. I’m not keen at all for a repeat of that, so I’m pleased that my leg’s manage to repair itself, and more importantly, that I’ve respected my leg’s need to heal.

So, even if I didn’t have family commitments on last week, it wouldn’t have mattered, as I needed to give my body time to sort itself out. Annoying and frustrating as it may be (I’m not overly patient with my body when it needs to heal itself ), it’s something I’ve come to respect over the years.

Related posts:

1. Stupid stump
2. Taking a (forced) break over x-mas
3. Weight watching

Last weekend was spent trying to be useful as McAdam is moving into his new place next weekend. This involved lifting heavy things, driving around with a trailer on the back of the car (which was pretty amusing in itself as I demonstrated my complete inability to reverse with one sitting on the back of my car ), going to the hardware store and painting the house. Having painted our previous place, I have to say I’m not too shabby at the task – plenty of practice there.

Anywho, when I woke up Sunday morning after a hard day’s work, my thigh on my right leg was absolutely killing me! On Saturday night when I went to bed I was struggling to be able to hop like I normally would, and after a full day of painting on Sunday, my thigh was absolutely shot come Sunday night. When I woke up on Moonday morning, I knew I’d done a good job It wasn’t as though it was permanently damaged or anything, it’s just that the muscles were extremely sore. While this is pretty normal for most people I guess, I think it’s exasperated by the fact that when I suqat down or head up on the step ladder when painting, I’m doing everything using only one leg, as my prosthesis is such that it’s there to provide support while walking or when stationary, but because of the lack of a working knee, my body relies entirely on my right leg to lift the body when crouching/climbing step ladders, that kind of thing. It means it gets a good workout, too!

So come Monday night, I was getting worried that the muscles weren’t recovering as quickly as I wanted when I had one of those light-bulb moments – the magic mud!

The infamous Magic Mud

I’ve posted before on this magic stuff, so have a read if you’re interested – once again, the stuff made a huge impact on my thigh, I massaged in a pretty generous amount on Monday night, and while it was still sore on Tuesday, it was considerably less so. And today? Feeling almost back to normal.

If you’re keen to try it, Google ‘Rotorua Thermal Mud’ – the maker of the one I have is Parrs, and they were readily available when Wifey and I were holidaying in New Zealand a few years back. When my current batch runs out, I’ll definitely be ordering some more online from NZ. At least for me, it works really well on freeing up aches and pains from my joints and muscles.

Will have to try and remember this for when I start painting our place later on this year and I inadvertently mangle my muscles in the process

Related posts:

1. More love for the Magic Mud
2. Sore muscles!
3. Mangling my leg (again :P)