Video Clips & Commentaries
These are taken as I worked and there is some infrequent swearing. If you are easily offended, this treatment isn't for you anyway!
They are in chronological order, with the most recent appearing first.
They have been hugely instructive to me preparing and annotating them. I hope much of what I do comes over. DO read the commentary to all the clips. Each one triggered thoughts which are a part of the whole process.
We haven't taken a huge amount of footage early on as I was quite resistant to it. Looking back, I see that was a mistake!
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Walking with Quad Sticks
Monday, 04 July 2008
As usual for my walking exercises, I am using my below-knee splints, ankle weights (to make my thighs work harder in lifting the legs) and, here, my quad walking sticks.
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Knees to Chest
Tuesday, 03 June 2008
This was one of the exercises I focused on while I was off-walking with my blistered toes. It was a good one as I could really see and feel the changes happening. If you look at my earlier clips of trying to do the same thing.
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Knees In & Out
Tuesday, 03 June 2008
This is another important exercise. I try to move the knees in and out and capture the movement so that more and more comes from the leg naturally and less form the hips and upper body.
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Walking with Sticks
Monday, 02 June 2008
This clip shows more advances in my walking training. It’s hard for me not to be excited and yet critical and point out where I have improved since.
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Stand & Sit
Monday, 02 June 2008
At the beginning, I am stood balancing lightly on my fingertips. My body is straight and all the muscles around my lower back, hips and pelvis are straight (not bent and unable to fully straighten as they were previously).
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Toes: Temporary Change of Training Schedule
Monday, 21 April 2008
This photo shows my toes (actually not looking as angry, red or weeping as they did at various points) after I had my feet in a foot spa for too long (about 40mins) and then exercised on them later in the day.
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Treadmill
Monday, 10 March 2008
Here I am in the harness on the treadmill with no braces or splints but ankle weights to make the thighs work harder in lifting to kick forward. This was taken quite some time ago and just shows a fairly routine walk.
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Crutches
Monday, 3 March 2008
This was another incredible session. In the last 3 weeks, the changes have been coming in so fast. You can see the progress since the last walking with crutches video clip, where my balance on my
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Working Legs in Harness
Friday, 29 February 2008
In this one I'm (again) trying to pull the leg back using muscles from the back, connecting through my bum and into my legs. After a time of doing this and making an effort, it would amaze me how I
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Knees to Chest - Legs in Harness
Friday, 29 February 2008
With all the standing work recently, and these kinds of exercises shown here, my knees have been really responsive of late. I have much more awareness in them, and sensation too when I, or anyone,
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Crutches
Thursday, 21 February 2008
(I don't know why the sound quality is so slow at the beginning. Sorry.) Here you see me fall over lots as I am still not stable on my legs and the crutches do not offer the stability that a walking
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Leg Press
Thursday, 21 February 2008
The weight has increased since last year! Don't know whether you can see but each weight is 5kgs and the top one is 10 (I think, Hratch won't tell me, and him saying 20kgs is to take my mind off me
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Treadmill
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
For some reason I'm doing this exercise wearing my lower leg splints and shoes. Normally, I don't do this these days. I think I will try to get another more instructive clip to post, as it doesn't
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Crutches
Friday, 15 February 2008
This was the end of my first week playing with crutches. Here I am trying to get the balance with them. Just to stand, relax and let my legs and body take the weight. When it happens, it's such an
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Legs in Harness Exercises
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
The first thing that strikes me about this clip is how paralysed and and skinny my legs looks and how bony the knee is with no muscle around it. There is a lot less control in the leg than a year
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Knees to Chest
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
This exercise is hard on so many levels. The stomach muscles kill. I'm trying to lift the legs up towards my face and stop them falling sideways. And always with the lift I felt like I could get
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Kicking
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
This is another example of having to relearn something. I had been doing kicking exercises for sometime when I was at my nephew's christening and saw a friend holding his baby, with it's back
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Leg Press
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
I can't see exactly but the weight here is pretty light. Looks like about 20kgs only. In fact it's not even sufficient for the the leg press to return to the resting position by itself: Hratch has
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Treadmill
Wednesday, 12 July 2006
Here I am wearing my old callipers - the lower half of a full length set. My feet are dragging on the treadmill as I haven't got the strength yet to lift my legs sufficiently. That bloody dragging
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Walking Frame & Leg Supports
Wednesday, 12 July 2006
It makes me smile looking back on this. I'm wearing the bottom half of my old callipers and great big, soft knee supports, as I couldn't lock my knees (couldn't even imagine locking them actually).
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Leg Press
Monday, 10 July 2006
I never know whether he's telling me the right weight or not. He just sets it at what he thinks I should be doing, and tries to take away from me the self-restricting idea of what I can and cannot
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Kicking (the early days)
Monday, 10 July 2006
So if you saw the more recent kicking clip, you'll see that I was sat up in it, whereas I'm more horizontal here. There was less connection back then and lying down was the only way I could get a
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Knees to Chest - Legs in Harness
Monday, 10 July 2006
Look at those thin little legs and fleshless bum. I looked paralysed then. Now I have people say, noticing the wheelchair after I've been speaking to them for some time, "So are you paralysed then?
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Leg Exercises
Monday, 10 July 2006
This shows there are no short-cuts. You want to build tension and muscle, and re-establish the connections? Then you put in the effort. Hours and bloody hours of this damn stuff. I'm pleased that I
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Early Standing Exercises
Monday, 10 July 2006
Oh my god. These standing exercising sessions were just all pain. My whole body was wanting to fall back, and my arms were pulling me up and forward with less assistance from my back, pelvis and
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Exercise Bike
Monday, 10 July 2006
Again, look how skinny my legs are! I have always had a love/hate relationship with this damned bike. Just when I think I am getting it, he'll change the exercise slightly and it'll slip away from
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My First 1%
Tuesday, 20 June 2006
This video clip shows what was, for me, my first 1%. (I always knew if I could get this then the percentages would slowly add up to 100.) Something significant happened and I called my parents up
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