I mangled my stump dancing to 80s Michael Jackson

I think the title pretty much says it all 🙂 Last Saturday my little brother, Tank, got hitched (yay!!! :D), and as a member of the wedding party (the best man actually :)), we were kept busy running around, having photos taken, that kind of thing. Now, one of the things with good weddings (and weddings with a good DJ especially!) is that I’m bound to do something stupid, like dancing to Jacko songs from the 80s. It gets worse if I’m in familiar company, like my brothers, other family friends, McAdam, people like that – in fact, particularly with McAdam, we have an unspoken pact that that incidence of 80s Jacko is a requirement to jump onto the dance floor and be idiots. With Wifey, if its a classic 80s tune (e.g. Wham!, Foreigner, Journey, etc), then dancing will also be required. Saturday night featured a lot of this, so understandably there are repurcussions as a result 🙂

By the time we got home and I had a shower, I took a look at my stump and I have to say, even by my standards I did a pretty good job mangling my stump. There was torn skin, breakdown around the main scar tissue across the front, and stress along other tracts of skin where the pressure from suction caused the skin to shrivel and stretch. I ended up staying off my leg for Sunday and Monday, and used my walking stick at work on Tuesday and Wednesday to help it heal as much as possible. To keep it from getting infected, I also slathered on some antiseptic cream on my stump each night before going to bed. Ended up having yesterday off work (I’m still fighting a cold, but was feeling pretty crappy yesterday so took it off to recover), so I went without my leg again, and my stump’s almost back to normal (yay!).

As a result I haven’t been able to go to karate this week, which is a bit annoying as I don’t want to fall behind, and I intend to grade in July so I have to get the quality of my form up to scratch in order to pass. I’m planning to squeeze in some extra classes over the next month and a bit to get there. Will also try and fit in extra training between classes when doing my usual weight training/etc, also.

But in the grand scheme of things, I’m actually kind of happy I mangled my stump on Saturday night – I had such an awesome time that I wouldn’t have it any differently, as I’d rather have a blast and celebrate something as important as my brother and sister-in-law getting married with crazy enthusiasm and gusto (and then spend a week recovering), than have played it safely and not have any physical worries afterwards at the expense of having so much fun 😀

Share

Core strength – martial arts complementing life as an amputee

What I want to talk about today is how building my core strength through karate has helped me as an amputee.

Core strength is a term you’ll often hear dedicated martial artists talk about, but rarely one used when discussing life as an amputee. While I understood the value of the concept previously, it’s only in relatively recent years that I’ve taken the term on for what I used to think of as solely my abs, but there’s more to it than that. For those interested in a neat little definition, Wikipedia has a nice definition of what the core anatomy is (click here).

My first experience with the medical benefits of core strength built through karate was actually with my lower back – I have a family history of shonky backs, but my position is a little more accute due to the amount of abuse my lower back gets as an above-knee amputee. Where able-bodied people have the foot/ankle/knee to cushion their walking, amputees have to absorb extra pressure from walking into our lower backs. Think of it like jumping down from a few steps above the ground, and when you land on your foot, you have your legs dead straight instead of slightly bent to absorb the force from landing – that’s pretty much what we have to deal with as am amputee. Even more appropriately given the nature of a prosthesis, grab a broom, hold it vertically and slam the bare end (i.e. not the brush end :P) onto the floor – the vibrations you feel in your hand is akin to what we feel run up our stump(s) and back. There are certain variables that can alter the amount of force we receive – below-knees can absorb some extra force since they still have their knees, above-knee amputees will vary depending on the length of their stump, and there are mechanical devices (different prosthetic knees, feet and socket designs) that aim to reduce the amount of energy absorbed vertically through the stump and lower back, but for the most part, the principle remains pretty accurate.

While my prosthesis I currently have has a few technological tricks by way of the design and knee/foot equipped, remember that before I was 18 and these extra tools become available to me I was on a leg that wasn’t able to do much to soften the vertical blow dealt to my body through the simple act of walking.

So, with this in mind, its understandable that your lower back gets stressed as an amputee. Therefore you have two solutions to this – don’t walk/severely minimse your physical activity, or strengthen your body to withstand the extra abuse you deal to your body. I don’t think you can guess which path I decided to take 😉

My first experience of the medicinal benefits karate was having on my body as an amputee was when I went to the physio a number of years ago when my then-girlfriend (and now wife) had started living together – I finally went and saw someone about my back, and while my posture was generally very good, I was told that one way to improve the lower back muscles was to get into the habit of using your abs to support your back. This seemed strange to me at the time, but I was told that the muscles are complementary, and strong abs will help support your back. She encouraged me to get into the habit of tensing my abs so that I always have extra support for my back, so I decided to give it a a go. Admittedly, it didn’t help that I was also a bit vain about it and saw it as an opportunity to make my belly flatter by doing the extra exercises, but I found that it started to have positive effect on the overall strength of my lower back.

This now lends itself to how I’ve learned the importance of core strength in karate. Martial artists often talk of the importance of strengthening your core muscles, and how a strong core will lend itself to better power, technique and control. As time’s gone on, I’m a firm believer in the concept. When you punch, to extract maximum efficiency of your technique, you don’t just move your arm – you transfer the energy from the ground, up into your torso and use your core muscles to whip your shoulder, arm and fist into your target, squeeze the muscles at the last moment to gain that extra bit of dynamic power, and then use the core muscles to bring your arm back and maintain a strong center-line throughout your technique. Same for kicking – use your core to support your body and back, utilise your hips, whip the leg out, bring it back. Grappling and throwing are nothing without a strong core – without it, you’ll ruin your back. All techniques in martial arts benefit from a strong core, and the sooner you learn this, the better you’ll be for it.

So what’s the catch with this as an amputee? Well, I’ve found myself utilising my core muscles all the time to support and strengthen my body. When I get out of bed in the morning, I squeeze my abs and use these muscles and my arms to sit up to avoid placing pressure on my back. When I hop around without my leg on, my abs clench every time I hit the ground the prevent a jolt to my lower back. Every time I lift something, I contract my muscles to absorb the extra strength I need to draw from my back since I can’t use two legs (well, knees :P) to assist in lifting a weighted object. When I twist and turn my body when I’m on crutches, I use my core muscles to control my extension and insulate my back. And of course, in class I use my core extensively to improve my balance, control, power, technique and assist my back at all times, whether it be holding a stance or having take-downs or counters performed on me. In fact, I’ve found that even the motions of good form in practicing your stances does a terrific job of stretching your back, loosening the muscles and then building up their strength in supporting your weight.

So, core strength is obviously a very important part of maintaining and strong and healthy back for all people, but for amputees, there is an incredible amount of good it can do for you. At the very least, good core strength will help protect your lower back from the jarring pain you get from walking, but there is so much broader application for using your core muscles in everyday life, and everything you do physically can benefit from it.

While martial arts isn’t alone in being an activity that can radically strengthen your core, I find that the varied techniques and exercises you learn in a good system can be used to develop your core, and the different ways you learn to increase the mastery of your physical behaviour is a huge benefit not only to amputees in extracting maximum potential from their situation, but to all people.

… and now that I’ve written it and looked over it twise, I hope it made sense and wasn’t too jumbled 😛

Share

Learning to walk again through karate

Normally I’d be gearing up to train about now, but I was falling asleep at my desk, so I’m home taking it easy and having an early one tonight. This will likely ensure I get paid out next week at training, but that’s fair enough 😛 Ever since I injured myself through lack of concentration due to sleepiness at training a few years back, I’m always hesitant to train if I’m feeling particularly knackered, so I err on the side of caution these days 😛 Anywho, I digress…

Today I wanted to talk about how doing karate has, for me, taught me how to walk again. This may be a bit of a misnomer, as some may think that doing martial arts was part of my rehabilitation post-amputation; it isn’t, as I had my leg amputated when I was a baby, so I learned to walk as a kid. What I’m getting at is how karate has taught me how to walk *again*.

I’ll explain – as an amputee, you compensate for the lack of muscle movement and control as much as possible. For a below-knee amputee, they utilise their existing knee to a greater degree than an able-bodied person would in order to compensate for the lack of movement you normally derive from your ankle, and the act of shifting pressure and distribution of weight you use the various muscles in your foot for. A below-knee amputee with a good gait can obtain quite a high degree of movement from mastering the use of their prosthesis and their remaining muscles – I’ve seen some footage of Ron Mann doing some work with pads and a bag, and the guy’s awesome despite being a below-knee amputee (if you’re interested in reading more, I’ve linked to his MySpace site and blog on my side panel).

For above-knee amputees, it’s a little different. We have to use our hips to compensate for the lack of a knee, and rely on our stump to pick up the remaining walking motion with our gait. I was watching on… Enough Rope with Andrew Denton a few years back, where they had an above-knee amputee and a below-knee amputee on the show talking about their conditions. It was the first time I’d heard amputees from both sides of the spectrum talk about their conditions, and I didn’t realise that above-knees had to put a higher amount of energy into their gait to achieve the equivalent movement that a below-knee would. That would explain why I look a bit unco compared to the likes of Ron!

Anywho, the preamble is meant to set up discussion on walking. So, as an above-knee amputee with a reasonably good gait for my condition to begin with, my typical method for walking was to simply plod around the place without paying much attention to how I walked, except to try and minimise the limp 😉 However, over the years I’ve found that I have gradually evolved my complete method of walking. I’m no longer plodding around – instead, I’ve learned to use my remaining leg to a much greater degree to assist me in walking. Before where I’d simply walk or plod everywhere, I now use my calf muscles, knee, ankle and all the muscles running along my foot and in my toes to walk with far more control and less tension. Instead of each stepping-phase being a case of stepping with my right foot, step with the left and try and match up as the body falls forward as fast as practical, I can now take measured action preceding the step with my prosthesis, gently arc my body over my center line, and gently ease myself into the next step.

Karate has also had an immeasurable improvement with balancing on my left leg. Walking as an amputee is kinda like walking on slits; the extra problem you get as an above knee is that your stilt has a free-swinging hinge in the middle of it, and the wrong move will see you fall over in a dramatic, if not amusing, fashion. From doing karate, I’ve gradually improved the ability to balance myself on my left leg, move my center of balance, and be able to control my body by twisting myself while pivoting on my artificial foot. The simple act of kicking with my real leg and holding myself up with my prosthesis has meant that I’ve gradually enhanced my balance as a general rule, but particularly on the fake leg.

The end result, as far as walking goes, is that I have a two-pronged attack on my previous method of walking – my control has become far greater with my real leg, and I have learned “flexibility”, enhanced balance and more control over my prosthesis, meaning that I can walk in a way that places less strain on my body while achieving a far superior gait.

So my advice for other amputees out there is to give martial arts a go – it will be hard work training your body to work with your prosthesis, but if you can stick with it, the results are not only beneficial for all the usual reasons (fitness, confidence, self defense), but it will also assist in the most basic of movements – walking.

So there we go, I’ve made a contribution that should ease my guilt for not being at training tonight 🙂

Share

Mangled stump

Two posts in a single day, go me 🙂

Anywho, apart from my musings on February, I also wanted to post about the joys of being an amputee and random, sporadic wounds on my stump. I went to bed on Tuesday night this week without any problems, then woke up on Wednesday morning with an absolute cracker of an infected sore on my stump. This isn’t necessarily anything unusual by itself, it’s just annoying. I think a lot of these instances are caused by infected hair follicles or in-grown hairs, both of which are apparently pretty common amongst amputees. The reason behind them as I understand it is due to the nature of the situation – the stump’s generally wrapped in a non-porous material (in my case, a sheath of silicon that acts as a membrane between my stump and the socket), you get sweaty over the course of the day (exasperated at this point in time by the Australian summer heat), and being a guy and having hairy man legs (is this too much information at this point??), something’s got to give 😛 If I get them in random spots on the leg it’s not too dramatically bad, but when I get them along the areas that support my weight around the socket (typically around the top of the socket and at the very base), it can be extremely painful. Imagine a crazy blind pimple on the ball and heel of your foot, that’s what it feels like.

Thankfully, I was able to drain most of the crap out of it first thing in the morning and went home from work early to take the leg off, keep the wound clean and rest up. I woke up yesterday morning, and my body being the surprising thing it is, healed up most of it, to the point where I didn’t need to bring my walking stick around the office yesterday, which was awesome.

The bummer about it is that I was due to train the night I got knocked with the sore, so I had to bail on the session. Considering how damn good last week’s training was (I was drenched with sweat afterwards, and it was a very rewarding and focused session), I was really looking forward to jumping around in my gi again.

Ah well, I guess there’s always next week!

I know this is still early days with the blog, but hopefully the above might prove useful to other amputees out there who get issues like this with their stumps, either as a general rule, or in exacerbating conditions, like the hot weather.

Well, might finish this one up – I’m planning on adding some blogs in the next couple of weeks to fill in the substantial gap between September 2007 and February 2009, so look out for those. It’s been a good time for training though, and (hopefully!) I’ve been improving my technique as I go. I’m planning on looking into remote blogging down the road to simplify things further, but we’ll see how I go – I’m hoping it’ll encourage more regular blogging, but I probably won’t look into the technicalities of setting it up for a couple of weeks at this stage.

Share

Archive: What a week!

Source: Gisoku no Jutsu
Original post date: 30 March, 2007

Well, it’s been an interesting week! I’ll keep this one short and snappy tho!!

Okay, first up – no karate on Wednesday night, as the silicone liner has been a real pain lately and I tore some skin off the back of my stump on Wednesday during the day… again. This being said, I managed to get an appointment to see the guys who take care of my leg for Thursday, and we have moved to a different shaped silicone liner, and its working an absolute treat! I didn’t wear the leg on Wednesday evening and didn’t wear it on Thursday to give the stump a rest, and the muscles are waking back up, but on the whole it is soooo much better!

News number two – I had a trip to the emergency room at the hospital on Wednesday night at about 10:30pm! I finished brushing my teeth, and within a few minutes, my mouth was swelling up, the right side of my face was going numb and my mouth has this crazy stinging feeling. The docs were mystified and the inflamation went down naturally. Got home at 3:30am. Ouch, tough night, but glad nothing worse happened and that it worked out. Props to Wifey for keeping me company, and to my mum for giving u a lift to the hospital 🙂

Will post more stuff next week – I’m outtie for the weekend!

Share

Companion blogs

Calendar

March 2024
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031