If someone had said back in June 2007 that I would walk again I would have disagreed with you on the basis that a few Consultants, while looking at my X rays, said it would be pretty impossible for me to walk. Although in late July of 2007 I defied all medical expectation by taking my first few tentative steps in Stoke Mandeville Hospital surrounded by a team of expert Physiotherapist. I was so elated and happy that I could walk again, however it soon became evident that I would need some sort of aid to help me walk. At that point the Orthotics Department stepped in and said we could help by offering a basic aid that kept my foot at a 90 degree angle to my leg called Blue Rockers, which would help me to walk. However, they were far from comfortable and the velcro straps at the top and bottom of the orthotic would dig deep at the back of my calf muscles and sometimes would induce pain and if I was already in pain it would then exacerbate the pain to unbearable levels. At the time this invention was a life changer as without it I would be destined to a life in a wheelchair. Over the coming years I utilised the orthotics to their utmost and I was going through an average of three pairs a year, but every so often I would ask the experts if there was anything new on the market that would relieve the amount of pain I was getting, but also improve on mobility.
Seven years later and the year is 2014, this would be the year that my questions were answered when the company Ottobock UK approached Help for Heroes and asked if they could think of anybody who would be interested in being involved in a clinical trial where they would get to try out these new orthotics called IDEO, Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthotic. H4H approached me and asked if I would like to be part of the clinical trial and I jumped at the chance to be involved as I knew the orthotics had the potential to change my life and Help for Heroes offered to pay the bill as they were not available on the NHS. My first appointment with Ottobock went really well and they started to take a cast mould of my legs as the new orthotics are bespoke, and I came away from that appointment with a smile on my face.
My next appointment happened within two weeks and Ottobock had a clear plastic mould of the IDEO’s ready to fit to my legs and sort out the adjustments that were needed. The first thing I noticed was the fact that I did not need to move my knees backwards and forwards to balance as the IDEO’s took and supported my weight incredibly well and I soon found out that I could stand completely still, which was something I have never been able to do since my injury. So already I could see and feel the difference the IDEO’s had made. I now couldn’t wait to get my very own pair of carbon fibre IDEO’s.
One month later and the finished article was ready to be fitted and by the end of the day I would be walking out the door with my very own pair of IDEO’s and not to put too much pressure on myself, but I was the first patient in the UK to have a pair so they were expecting some feedback from me. When they fitted the orthotics to my legs nothing seemed to be right as they were tight in places they shouldn’t have and loose in others so there was a lot of last minute fixing and as they had had a machine malfunction on one of the Orthotics they had to start from the beginning again and as you can imagine the technician was very stressed and behind time. As a one hour appointment turned in to whole day affair and after some major tweaking I was ready to take the finished IDEO’s home. Just to add to the suspense Ottobock said I had to let the special loctite glue dry so I wouldn’t be able to wear them properly until the next day. Bummer!
The next morning I was up early bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to put the IDEO’s through their paces. I put them on and was walking around my living room with a huge smile on my face and immediately said to the wife, “Let’s go out shopping and see what they can do”. After some time I started to notice minor issues with the orthotics like the left one being slightly loose at the top where they fasten and the right being a little too tight and also when I went up and down stairs or sat down they would dig in to my knees and leave a red mark. To combat this I wore a silicone sleeve over my knee and that seemed to lessen the pain, but it didn’t work for the right knee as that was already too tight so I could only get a bit of tuber grip on the knee and that held fast for the immediate future. I knew I was going to have to make a trip back to Birmingham to get these issues fixed, but I wanted to wait for as long as I could so I had some real feedback to give Ottobock.
Later on in the week I also found out that due to the angle of the toe on the orthotic I was unable to wear my normal size ten trainer as this pushed my toes up into the roof of the shoe I was wearing causing some mild discomfort and in some cases a lot of pain. So the short term solution was to buy a size eleven and that rectified it short term of course. This also meant that all my expensive shoes were now made redundant and the only item that fitted without pain was my trainers. I could have reverted to my old orthotics, but that was something I didn’t want to do as it would feel like going from a super cool sports car to a twenty year old banger. Even with the issues I am still left with a devise that is so superior to anything I have tried before. They are just so spectacular and I will still wear them every day and they have the capacity to open doors that have never been opened post injury.
Since my injury in 2007 I have never been able to run and I know the IDEO’s will change that for me as very soon I am going to attempt to run for the first time in seven years, to say that I am excited is an understatement really. So I have good times still to have and it just goes to show that the road to recovery is never over as technology will always advance and medical science will provide something new for us to try out. I don’t know what is next in terms of technology for me, but one thing is for sure, I will be back one day trying something new that will inevitably change my life again.
Until next time folks…