hi farm wife...hope you are doing a bit better now.......

no wonder i am totally screwed up...lafff
when i take a step with my right foot, i use the cane too,on the right side with the foot and the cane for support......then i use my left leg (good leg) then the right foot with the cane for support on the right side as i continue walking.................so i am really off now huh???

i am still pretty miserable, thank you for asking. but a person has to cope you know?

but the good news is, i finally had dsl installed. it seems to be easier to "compute" because i don't have to spend so much time waiting for everything to download, and i don't have to sit here so long.

hope you and yours are feeling beetter. miss chatting with you.

hugs and prayers

im me.........


how is yard ornament doing??//

The top of my cane is right at the crease in my hip.

"They" told me and taught me to use the cane on the right (the good side).

I just couldn't though because, at that time, my hands hurt so much from the neuropathy -- I couldn't stand the pressure on my hand.

I use the cane on the "bad" side.

I always figure the cane is like a third leg -->> cane/left_leg/right_leg. I always have the support of the right leg and the cane. I guess someone who considers herself a talking moose can be just as weird as she wants to be

Barb

Hi Liz,

Walking stick time, huh? Oh well, these things can transform our lives. I always need pictures to explain anything like this to me.
Here are a couple of picture sites (for people 170 yo, don't let that bother u!!):
http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/sma/sma_caneuse_sha.htm
http://www.falls-chutes.com/guide/en.../handout1.html
and here's a blog discussion of House (M.D.) and the fact that he uses it on the wrong side..
http://blogs.chron.com/realrehab/arc..._is_wrong.html

all the best, don't go tripping up now!

thx everyone for the info.....i see the doc on tuesday and i think i'll ask about a phys therapy session to make sure i'm not doing something wrond with the cane and making my arm worse.....it's only going to be for occasional use, but i still want to make sure i don't cause myself additional problems.

i feel a bit silly that i didn't think to google this topic (who knew?)......but on rsd questions, this group has always been first on my resource list!

thx all....i appreciate the input.

joan....good to see u posting.....hooray for DSL!!!

liz

If all else fails. Do what I did. Stop on over to your pharmacist. Mine was more than helpful. He jumped right up and helped me get mine raised to the right height. Believe me I was walking like the Hunch Back of Notre Dame before that. I suspected something was outta whack but couldn't get it right. I think your arm is supposed to be down straight to your side when you stand up straight with the cane in your hand. I'm not sure right now since I'm in my room and my cane is not! Hope it helps.

Mark

i too was told by my physical therapist long ago to use the cane on my bad side.....i am ambidextous, but i really think i will have a hard time using my left hand for the cane.................it will take some getting used too, that is for sure.........good thing i don't need it too often..................
farm wife, sorry i missed you on the im........i never even heard the 'ding'.........

One reason for using the cane on the opposite side from the "problem" is to help try to keep your gait steadier and more even. Take it from someone who knows, if you go lurching around with the cane on the bad side, it causes you to lean toward that side....and throws your gait all out of whack, which in turn throws your back all out of whack....which causes all kinds of problems.

Also, if you are having to use something to help you get around on a more than occasional basis, or you find that using the cane start causing you to have more (or even new, if you haven't had any before...) Hand/wrist/arm pain, or you already have pre-existing hand/wrist problems, you might consider talking with your doc and/or your PT folks about using a fore arm crutch instead. The reason for that, is because of how it distributes the pressure, your weight, and everything all along your forearm instead of focusing it all right there on your poor wrist, which wasn't really ever intended to carry such a burden.

Before I ever had any RSD problems in my upper parts, and before I got to the PT people that actually knew what they were doing and helped me the very most (to save all kinds of my body parts from going to Hell in a hand basket, which is where they were heading when I staggered/stumbled/hobbled through their doors), I was using my cane on my RSD side, lurching around like a drunken Frankenstein, causing more and worse back problems then I already had, AND I was having problems with my right wrist and hand (the one I was using the cane with). My fingers were going "dead", my wrist was hurting and feeling like it had gravel in it or something, and I had swelling (NOT like RSD swelling...but swelling because it was hurt, and that would go away if I could stop using the cane for a while...like over night. Swelling would be gone, or very much down, by morning, without me using any Ice). The PT folks explained that this was because I was damaging my wrist from over use, and use in ways that it was never meant to be used, and that the wrist is actually a very fragile structure. LOL..I kinda got a "Brief Anatomy Lesson and Exploration of the Human Wrist", complete with colored laminated and labeled drawings, and a skeleton (not really...it was plastic...I hope. LOL) arm/wrist/hand segment to show me how it all went together, and what areas I was putting pressure on, and how, and what it was doing to them.

THEN they went on to the Spine, and what I was doing to that, by lurching around with my horrible gait patterns. I still have a pretty awful gait, since I walk on the outside of my right foot, but I am not leaning all over to the right to walk while leaning on a walking aide device thing. Not after they showed me what that was doing to my back....complete with yet another set of colored laminated and labeled drawings, and another piece of skeleton (again, not real...I hope) to show me all of the stress and whatnot I was putting on the different parts of my spine. Not just the lumbar...but the thoracic and even cervical. Tell you what....they made a true believer out of me.

Also, because I went in in such bad shape....and I had problems in so many areas....even around my whole S part of my spine (Can't spell it, not even going to try at this late time of night. The part that is lower than the Lumbar, that is supposed to be all fused together, and that leads down to your tail bone....Sacosomethingoranother part.), that I even had to get injections around there to try to help with some unrelated to RSD pain.....Pain that I don't really have bother me much now. Not like it was. Don't get me wrong...my back is a mess.....and it always will be, and it will probably only get worse as I get older (nice thought, when you are 37); but, I know for a fact that I would not be in the shape that I am in now, RSD in lower back and all, if it weren't for those PT folks educating me on what to do to keep my back from getting worse faster, and how to help it instead of hinder it. I also probably would have wound up with RSD in my hand way before I did....and I probably would have wound up with it worse, since I would have been under the care of my old pain doc, and I would have kept doing the things to keep aggravating it (ie - using the cane and causing the hurt).

Summary Time (for those that Skip and Scan ...LOL):

So, basically, this is what I have learned, lol: Canes are good for occasional use, or short term use. Fore arm crutches are needed for long term use, because they distribute the stress, strain, and pressure evenly along your arm instead of focusing it all on one small focal point in your wrist, which will cause many problems, pain, and could cause lots of damamge. Anything that you only need one of to help you walk should be used on the opposite side of the body from the problem/injury to help keep you stable, to help you maintain a more normal gait pattern, and to help out your poor back. Exceptions to all of this are if you can not use your opposite side's arm for some reason, like paralyzation, extreme weakness or something of that sort that maximizes the danger of falling.

Disclaimer time. LOL:
Like everything else on here, you should ALWAYS go and talk to your Doc and PT folks and clear with them what they think is best for you to do, since they know your case and history best, and know what is best for you do to, and all of the reasons why that is so.

Ok. That is it. Hope I haven't muddied the waters more than they already were?

Oh...Liz? You might consider getting an aluminum cane that is more easily adjustable? Even with mine (and yes...I do have two canes that I do use, along with my fore arm crutch(es)...different things for different situations), it took a few tries to get the right measurement? The PT folks helped me out with my first one (a cane)...and even they had to adjust it a few times to get it right. LOLOL...I am getting pictures of this poor wooden cane, a hack saw ( ) ...and you saying "Shoot....Bill? I think that was a little TOO much that time.....Where's the friggin' Super Glue? Why can't you put anything back where you get it from? Sheesh....." ROFLMAO!! Sorry....but...that is what I am getting....

I think that it is time for me to get to bed. I don't want to get into a whole bunch of trouble. LOL. Love ya, Sweetie.

((Hugs))
Jose