Treadmill
Monday, 27 April 2009
Although only appearing recently on this video log page, the video is taken in April. And before you ask, that white stuff sticking out of my bum is padding as the harness often rubs my skin, which is unhelpful!
Notice that I have progressed from using and lifting the hips to swing the leg, to using more of the thighs to lift the legs and then kick the lower leg forward. Whilst the photography is not great, I have tried to get the view from left and right sides so you can see the difference in the way both sides work.
The 3 ways he can make this exercise harder are: 1) make treadmill run faster - forces more reaction from the muscles and also lets him see my level of control and ability; 2) make the incline greater – you can see it is already on incline meaning I have to keep my foot up. Some people wear dropfoot splints when they do this, I do not need to as there’s good tension in my ankles; and 3) lower me so I have to lift the leg higher so my feet clear the carpet as I walk forward.
Normally, if he’s going to make me run fast, I don’t get away with it as short as shown in this clip, but otherwise you’d have had to watch a ½ hour of this! When I’m running, the balance is different, and so I have to make much more effort to get each leg forward, making me work my thighs far more.
My feet placement on each step is pretty good and consistent here, showing muscular control and clear thought. It is one of those things that can be going wrong and then sorted with clear instruction and/or thought.
On a good day, I love this exercise as it gets everything moving, and is so good for circulation. Plus I can see when it’s going well, and the days it doesn’t is usually due to my tension in my breathing, like when you go for a run (before paralysis) and it can take a while to relax into the run.