A Tale of Seven Braces
At 6’4″, my husband, Lowell, is a pretty big man, and despite having a broken/fused spine, and a paralyzed leg with a brace, he is still very strong. Too strong for his own good sometimes, or should I say, too strong for his leg brace’s good?
Lowell had a car accident in 1984, and after several operations, he was able to function as a “walking parapeligic. Despite being battered and bruised, his basic physiology did not change. He is an ox and grows muscle by just being alive. I’ve never seen anyone that could build muscle without really trying. I joke about him maintaining his finger muscles just by stretching his hand out a couple times, and I know he has more muscle in his pinky than I have in my whole hand. (Me being a petite – but currently overweight – 5’3” frame.)
So here we go with….
“A Tale of Seven Braces”
Long, long ago, in a land far far way….Oh sorry, wrong story…
Brace #1 – Full length, bolted to orthepedic shoes, 3/4″ aluminum, ie. Boat anchor/Dinosaur. – Fate – snapped in half within 1 year.
Brace #2 – Full length, bolted to orthepedic shoes, 1″ stainless steel, ie. Boat Anchor/Dinosaur – Fate – twisted beyond use in less than one year.
Conclusion: Bolting the brace to the shoe is probably not a good idea.
Brace #3 – Mid thigh to mid calf CTI composite skiing brace. Worked great for about 10 years, but had to nix it because it stopped holding his knee out of hyper-extension when the hinge broke. Best brace he ever had.
Brace #4 – Tried CTI again, but they couldn’t get the size right.
Brace #5 – Mid thigh to mid calf G2 with clam shell on calf and back strap to prevent hyper extending. Works okay but is a boat anchor and really saps his energy. Have been using it for about 5-7 years or so, and the clam shell is causing his nerves to flip out.
Brace #6 – Mid thigh to mid calf CTI composite skiing brace with a different design on the knee hinge. Destroyed it in one day!
Okay, that brings us to this year.
Brace #7 – Mid thigh to mid calf composite DonJoy skiing brace with a different design on the knee hinge. Lasted about 2 months. He snapped one of the side uprights yesterday while doing yard work.
Possible current solution? – Back to clam shell brace while we play with CTI braces that worked, but didn’t hold the knee and see if they can be modified to do so.
So, are we learning anything from this? I’ve definitely concluded that oxes don’t liked to be restrained….
Updates:
Update on Lowell’s brace
A Tale of Seven Braces – Part III
A Tale of Seven Braces – Part IV
Published April 13, 2008 | By Angela Trenholm