I have just begun to walk again. It isn't pretty and I am slow, but it still gives me hope, because I want to jettison my crutches.

Please, please tell me that someone got better and regained muscle mass and the ability to walk normally.

My calves look like before ads for cellulite treatment. I am exercising, but it does not seem to be helping at least in appearance. My legs lost all shape and I have a huge lump on the RSD ankle. So ugly, but minor considering a few weeks go I could not walk at all.

Today I made my bed without falling over!

Yeah BB! Walking normally is possible!

I have CRPS in my left foot along with serious nerve damage and nine inches of surgical incision that is scarred down pretty badly. I spent 9 months on crutches. 12 on my scooter. Additional time with walker and cane.

I walk a mile every day now. Sometimes I walk 1.5 or 2 depending on how I feel. My gait is totally normal and my calves measure almost the same size. I do NOT limp anymore. I did a boatload of work to get here. The walks started out like yours. Super-tiny. Just keep at it you will get there. The muscle comes back over time. My left foot is still smaller but it is a lot better than it was.

I can't guarantee no pain. My foot does still hurt and I have to rest and take breaks off it throughout the day. But it would probably hurt even without CRPS owing to all that happened to it. It is wonderful to be able to get around no matter what.

Keep it up Rocky! You'll make that comeback.

Thank you, thank you Littlepaw! This is just what I needed to hear.

Hi BioBased,
I was on a knee scooter for 5 months, then crutches for about 3-4 months, now a cane the last month or so. The past few weeks I have started walking short distances in the house without the cane, and I go for a walk with my husband outside (no cane) for a few minutes. I started with 3 minutes for a week, last week I did 4, and this week I am doing 6 minutes. I think my gait is ok, but I walk slow. My foot still hurts all the time, but the walking isn't flaring it up as long as I keep it slow and make small increment increases. I'm just hoping I can keep the progress going. It's frustrating to still have the pain, but it hurts whether I rest or move, so I'm determined to increase my walking. I wear a fitbit, and it is a good way to count steps so I know when I've had a day that is over what I usually do. Then I can monitor and see if my pain went up after a big day. I usually do about 3000 steps, but sometimes if it is a busy day I have 4000. My physical therapist is helping me plan when to increase the steps on purpose, and when to build in rest times. I really want to walk my dog around the block, and to do short grocery shopping trips without the cane. I'm not giving up. We've got this!

Missy J,
Your progress is wonderful to read. You are amazing! Whoo-hoo.

I am walking around the house with difficulty, but it is walking.

I have to be careful, because my right hip seems to be taking the hit from my wacky gait. The PM warned me about this. He recommended that I get a knee walker instead of using crutches, but the PT did not agree.

What has benefitted me the most has been LDN and pool walking. It blows me away that I can walk normally in the pool. What enabled me to use the pool was gradually reducing my constant use of heat. It was not as hard as I thought it would be, just reducing the water temp each day. (Probably easier to succeed in doing in the summer) Now I cannot take a hot shower or get into a tub with very hot water. I have not had the courage to try the Wim Hof, iceman, method yet, but I am happy with the results of my colder water, baby step regimen.

BioBased,

I cannot say that I have recovered and have a normal gait, maybe someday I can report that. For now, I can tell you that I have gone from a walker to a cane and for the last 3 weeks I have been cane free. My gait and speed are not yet where I want them to be, but it is progress. For months I did good to get to the bathroom and kitchen. Other rooms in the house were occasional and painful. Work has a bad set up and has been unbelievably difficult. I can now go across the house and tuck my son in. I can walk on grass if its fairly even. I can also drive some. It SLOW and steady. What has worked for me is warm water pool pt and land pt, both once a week w/ daily exercises at home. The muscle mass is hard to build when you are going slow, but it happens. Hips and knees get sore and I have to pull back. My lower right side from the hip down is smaller (except for my bulging ankle), but I can feel it getting stronger too. I think we have to keep at it and accept occasional set backs. Movement seems to be essential for recovery so I just keep pushing. Celebrate your success and here's to many more days of getting out of bed without falling over.

I do both of these too. I started LDN about 6 weeks ago.

BioBase - Great work so far. The first weeks were the worst for me, but every day got better. I started out on the couch tapping my RSD foot on the side of the couch, and it hurt a LOT. Eventually it hurt less - but I did this for 8 hours a day!! When I could do that, I started to tap it with more pressure and so I progressed little by little. Eventually putting some weight on my foot and beginning to put weight on with crutches. At some point I was walking with extreme pain, but I was walking. I fell sometimes. I kept going though, and eventually I ran. I have been walking for 5 years now, I think. The only time the RSD gets me down is if I have to "baby" another injury and NOT walk or run. If I rest for even one day it creeps back in. I walk when I'm sick, I walk when I'm injured, I walk at least 2 miles a day on my bad days and it works for me and keeps the RSD at bay. I have moments of pain still but I get up and walk when I get those. For me, its the best therapy. No drugs, just walking. I also don't immobilize anything, ever. Broken bones, torn ligaments all need to be rehabbed without splinting. It has saved me. Good luck on your continued progress!!

Theodora,

I so want my life back that I have to be careful of pushing the envelope. I feel so lazy, but by comparison to 5 months ago I am doing better. Thank you for sharing your story. I am going to keep the image of you running in my head.

Too much has gone awry since this started last year. Wrongly diagnosed with h pylori, the antibiotics brutalized me, at the same time I believe my RSD heel got fractured, but there was too much patchy osteoporosis to see it. I slept on an aero bed in my den so I could crawl to the toilet. I barely bathed, combed my hair. I couldn't read. I watched TV day and night. My days were spent massaging my RSD limbs with DMSO cream, MSM lotion, doing cold and hot contrast therapy ( not recommended) using the Bowen method to drain off fluid. In the middle of this an incidental brain aneurysm was found and I was in a wheelchair saying I had to delay surgery. I was surviving with a heated mattress pad, an electric blanket and a heating pad and I still shivered and shook. What was surgery going to do to me? I was in pain 24/7 with no hope of relief and no diagnosis for the misery. I felt I was falling into the abyss.

physical therapy helped me to gain some movement in my hand and elbow and shoulder but not so much in my wrist. but it did help the other parts of my rsd site and if you want to you can ask your dr to write you a script for pt. the only problem i had with pt is that at the end of each session they put ice on my wrist. i started having more pain in my wrist after a few months of icing. i didn't know at the time that ice can further damage rsd nerves but now after research i found out it not good to use ice on rsd parts. other then that i think pt is helpful. i hope you start to feel better and gain more movement soon.