The Ins and Outs of Braces

After walking around much the rehab clinic with my physical therapist walking behind holding a gait belt in case I lost my rather precarious balance, I was allowed to take the braces home. Not the walker which meant I was allowed to practice putting on the braces and  standing up followed by sitting back down but not moving around.

 There are three pieces - a back support shown above as the large curved piece and below shown from the back showing the assembly linking the legs . There are also two leg supports. These consist of a plastic piece molded to the foot and the leg below the knee, a small insert the fits over the leg just below the knee velcroing into place and a metal rod coming up the side of the leg and locking into the hip assembly.

In the picture below I have put the brace on my left leg and am in the process of putting it on the right. I have not yet fit the leg into the hip assembly.

 Here the assembly is together except for the shoes which go over the feet. An important piece is an
wedge in the shoe which raises the heel and throws my weight more forward onto the arms

 Getting into the shoes.

 In the last picture I have used the bars on our stair case to pull myself to a vertical position. Eventually the idea is to push up from a walker. Walkers are quite light and not too stable when pulled on. In addition the physical therapist felt (properly) that I was not ready to handle a walker without adult supervision. When I am standing in this position the braces lock at the hips allowing me to move the legs but forcing them to move in sync.

Curiously while I have no problems moving my legs in the parallel bars or the walker, I am unable to move when standing at the stairs. The problem seems to be that I cannot use my arms to unweight one leg allowing me to move it.