 Take
a look at this photo of my first "walking lesson" at
PhysAbility - a private treatment centre specialising in exercise
for people
with paralysis, in Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK.
Here I am after just three hours standing WITHOUT LEG CALIPERS... a little precariously perhaps (I need more practice, of course),
but what a great feeling!
While currently any thought of rehabilitation
and "healing
exercise" for people with spinal cord injury, stops at the spinal
unit door when you leave hospital....at PhysAbility, it's just begining... and wow!, have they got a refreshing approach.
David Ackroyd-Jones, a Sports Scientist and
Martial Arts expert runs PhysAbility which offers what I call "Out-of-the-box-
physio.
Mind you "physio" is perhaps a limiting term when it comes
to what David and his colleague Nicky give their clients. PhysAbility
offers so much more; going way beyond the traditional "medical" view
that once you're paralysed, that's your lot in life.
 My medical diagnosis (T12 paraplegic with
a complete lesion) is of no interest or relevance whatsoever to
the PhysAbility team. This
is not to say they are reckless or disinterested...quite the opposite...rather
their approach is more "intuitive" and "enquiring." David
is looking for the tiniest spark of movement in my legs to exercise
and develop "what is still there," yet often cannot be
seen, and is TOTALLY ignored by traditional medicine and hospital-based "rehabilitation."
What David is doing with me is a perfect example of what is possible.
For more than three decades I have ignored my legs and thought from
the waist up. If only I had awoken earlier.
We did lots of leg exercises and walking in parallel bars. I was
wearing an amazing pair of boots designed in Russia. They position
my ankle in such a way that If I mange to do some clever jiggery
pokery with my hips and knees, I can balance, weight-bear, and WALK,
after a fashion.
It is very hard work and at this stage it is something that I pray
will stimulate my legs, and encourage my muscles to remember and
work again, so in time I can walk independently.
As the song says....These Boots Are Made For Walking!
Want to know more? www.physability-uk.com.
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