At physical therapy today, AGB was so encouraged by my progress and enthusiasm that she decided to challenge me to walk with only one crutch. This forces me to put more weight on my injured leg, which will help me build strength faster. It also begins the arduous process of learning to walk normally again.
For this exercise, she unlocked my brace to give me greater range of motion. She then had me walk in a straight line back and forth across the clinic, focusing on placing my heel and rolling onto my toes while also controlling my balance on my leg. Since I was on “display” for everyone there, I also focused on keeping good posture, shoulders back and head held high. I felt like one of those girls practicing to walk with a book balanced on my head! I later joked with AGB. that I was doing my cotillion walk. I think she’s going to start using that term with her other patients.
UPDATE: I was practicing the walk at home later in the day, and my mom asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was trying to regain my grace. To which she quipped, “How can you regain what you never had?!” At that moment, the imaginary book on my head plummeted to the floor with a thud. But in the spirit of my newfound gracefulness and charm, I rose above the dig and responded with a dignified raspberry in her face.
