Work. Its great but its killing me!

[lu2b]

Cory a little something for you.

[graybeard]

Cory....dude, I got questions. Do you feel that not being able to exercise your legs is making them weaker? I thought the rollerator would be aplus for going one place to another easier. This isnt the case? Why are you using your wheelchair? Are office chairs too difficult to use? I thought that the more you walked, the stronger your legs would get. Do you still use a leg bag? How are you dumping it out? I ask these questions cuz in a couple of months I will be returning to work also. I had planned to use the sticks to walk in and to the bathroom to dump out my leg bag. I would use the rollerator to walk to other offices and such. I grant you the buildings arent nearly as far apart as yours are. I had planned on using an office chair with arms on them so I could have some "help" getting up from the chair. One of my main concerns is not being able to work out the legs much after a full day at work, and what the consequences would be.....thanks for any help you can give on these .....John

[MikeC]

John - I pretty much do what you are planning on doing. I've got crutches that I leave and work and use them when I'm going somewhere and don't need to carry anything. I come and go from work with a walker and use it if I need to go to the copy machine or carry stuff to a meeting, etc. I cath - so I use the walker to get to the bathroom (I put my cathing stuff on my walker seat). I sit in a regular office chair. I also installed a program on my computer that pops up every half hour so that I know it's time to move. I don't stand every half hour but I do shift positions, etc in my chair when the reminder pops up on my screen. It's easy at work to get involved with something and all of a sudden an hour is gone.

Cory, thanks for starting this thread. The last few months I've been working on a special project and have been working 10 hour days and at least half a day on Saturday. I can definitely tell the difference in my strength. Next year I'm not going to do this project - my boss won't like it (I did it last year also) but there is a trade-off in work and maintaining physical strength and I'm going to opt for the work-outs.

Mike

[darkeyed_daisy]

Originally Posted by MikeC

Cory, thanks for starting this thread. The last few months I've been working on a special project and have been working 10 hour days and at least half a day on Saturday. I can definitely tell the difference in my strength. Next year I'm not going to do this project - my boss won't like it (I did it last year also) but there is a trade-off in work and maintaining physical strength and I'm going to opt for the work-outs.

Mike

Mike did the 10 hour days not make your legs hurt? We started 10 hour days this week and by Wednesday night, my legs were on fire. I even wore compression hose (the kind you are supposed to wear on a plane for long flights) and they still hurt fierce.

Is it something I will have to get used to? We are supposed to rotate days off meaning some weeks I will be working four 10 hour days in a row. My legs swell a little on a normal 8 hour day but always go away overnight. Plus I have a 45 minute drive to work so that makes 11.5 hour long days.....

[MikeC]

Hey Daisy, no my legs didn't hurt when I worked a lot. Last week I stood for about 5 hours in the afternoon (we got a large screen TV and I HAD to watch them install it & the stereo) and my legs ached when I went to bed. Do your legs ache or a sharp kind of hurt?

I wear Jobst knee high medium compression socks all of the time - my ankles and feet swell a bit. Even when I work a lot I still get on the ground and stretch every night (while I watch the Daily Show - I miss some of Jon Stewart's facial expressions) so I think that helps also. When I started back working with my PT again I have problems maintaining good form when I miss exercising for a while.

I'm lucky in that my work is only about 10 minutes away so a 10 hour day is really only a 10 hour day for me.

Mike

[JustinB]

Hey Cory - Any updates on solving this problem?

-- JB

[mr_coffee]

Hey sorry guys I havn't been on in awhile and I didn't realize more people where posting.

John/Justin/Mike,

I only use my wheelchair if i'm going long distances and I don't sit in the wheelchair I use a regular chair, its more comfortable than my wheelchair.

Walking for me doesn't necessarily make my legs stronger, what ends up happening is the more I walk the more my knees kill me.

Since other muscles compenstate for muscles that arn't there or arn't as strong it throws my gait off and even though it looks like I'm walking normal I am slowly screwing my right knee.

Eveytime I take a step I pivot on my right leg to swing the leg with the afo through. By doing this its tearing at my maniscus. If i had hip flexors on both legs then this wouldn't be an issues because it would be easy to swing through.

Its been like this for about 2 years now, ever since I hurt my knee in the first place by walking with the HUGO which is like a walker with a seat.

I'm use to work now so its not as bad on me as it use to be. Now I bring an exercise ball to work and while i'm at my desk i'll do trunk exercises and I'll walk as much as possible even though I'm at my desk 90% of the time programming.

How I empty my leg bag is I walk to the bathroom with a empty water bottle, sit down on the tiolet, and drain the leg bag into the water bottle, stand up, dump it out, sit down again, and drain it all the way out (depending on how big your leg bag is).

I then leave the water bottle in the bathroomo so I dont have to keep bring in a new one.

I use the forearm crutches, I found I can walk better and it doesn't hurt as much if I use the crutches rather than the walker.

If i'm going to a meeting I ususally bring my wheelchair becuase I have to carry things which is an issue and somtimes there are no seats at all left in the meetings so people end up standing.