Rehabathlon

I have a new endurance sport. I discovered it with the help of my PTA Barry at Parkwood. We call it Rehabathlon. It's kind of like a triathlon, but without the swimming and wetsuit, or the being outside, or the fun and oh so aerodynamic outfit. But it sure has the fancy equipment - way more than all those fancy bikes. And it only happens on special Thursdays, lucky for me that was yesterday.

My new endurance sport looks like this: Lokomat, FES, Ekso. The distance are not defined ahead of time, in fact they are determined on the fly. The Lokomat requires a considerable about of setup, and because of the atrophy of the muscles in my legs, my setup has changed. Smaller cuffs are needed to strap my legs to the walking part of the machine, so making those changes ate into my walking time yesterday. But usually I walk about one kilometer. Then it's lunch (which also is not a part of the endurance race - at least not until after...)

FES bike is next (functional electrical stimulus). Setup requires the assistance of the staff, it is hard to properly place four electrodes on one's own behind. I managed 11.5 miles in my one hour time limit yesterday, a record for me. The time flew, of course, because all my Parkwood friends were there to chat about all the random things that most people would never think about. Like where the wheelchair friendly bars are in London, accessible holidays and how to work the insurance system to be in your favour. I am getting my own FES bike to have at home - but I will keep going to Parkwood on Thursdays - it's therapy for my body and my mind.

Now here is the bonus part from this Thursday - I also got to walk in the Ekso. The St. Joseph's AGM was at Parkwood and they wanted a demo of the equipment being used in the physio gym. I happened to be the lucky person in the right place at the right time, so I got off the FES and into the Ekso. All just in time to be standing as the Board of Directors walked in. I did a couple of laps of the gym and stopped to talk to them. I must say I was the perfect person to do it, I love to talk, teach and make people laugh - and that is exactly what I did. Afterwards the Vice President in charge of Parkwood, came back to meet, shake my hand me and say thank you. Very nice, indeed.