Learning to Walk Flat Footed (With A Cane!)

Sorry this post is so seriously late but school has started to get crazy so I've had to focus on that. But anyway here's my post...

From the time I could walk I've walked on my tip toes because of my stroke which isn't uncommon.

When I did physical therapy they tried to improve my gait (walk) but as a kid I was becoming a master of sass and I didn't want to. My dad actually tells me that6 when I was little some doctors tried to convince my parents that I needed my Achilles tendon lengthened and if not my knee would be overworked by the time I was 13.

I'm 20 by the way and my knee still likes me (I hope).

Last Wednesday in Yoga class my teacher (who is awesome by the way) told me that Yoga could be an alternative therapy for stroke patients and that she wanted to try it with me. First thing she challenged me to do was practice walking like we do our lunges with long strides, putting my left leg first so it will hit the ground rather than like how I usually walk. Needless to say, as an INTJ I love challenges so I accepted.

It's been a week and three days since I took this on and I'm still going strong.

So far there has been intermittent pain but it's not as bad as I was expecting. I was expecting the leg muscles I'd been neglecting to have atrophied after so long with no use but I don't think that's happened here which is awesome. I think the pain might actually just be the muscles stretching after so long of not using them and as of now it seems to have disappeared but I'm being vigilant.

Anyway I decided that a cane might help me in this endeavor so I bought one! As you know if you know me at all I decided to get a cane that looks like Dr. House's. With flames on the bottom it looks just like House's most famous cane and it's really awesome! So dative improved my walking with using it and gotten a lot of positive feedback on it from a lot of different people (and some clever jokes about it from my dad) which makes me feel more motivated to keep this up.

I've decided my sophomore year of college is going to be a year of self improvement and this is a great start for me!

 Here I am with the cane!

 My friend Jonah trying to see if my cane is a good fit for him!

 Me, my friends Tori and Amber, and the flame cane!