# I'm On The "Disabled List" ;) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 27, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868 "2009-08-27T03:34:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/21 "2009-08-28T17:19:21Z")
Handling stairs. From [here](http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00181). > [@](#): > > To climb stairs, grasp the handrail (if possible) and step up on your good leg first, with your cane in the hand opposite the injured leg. Then step up on the injured leg. To come down stairs, put your cane on the step first, then your injured leg, and finally the good leg, which carries your body weight. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/22 "2009-08-28T17:24:44Z")
Thirded on the cane thing. And thanks to the Dopers who gave me that same advice last year. I nearly tripled my walking speed. From .001 mph to .003 mph. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/23 "2009-08-28T17:33:42Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > ACK! No, no, no, no, no! Do \*\*not \*\*use \*House \*as a guide for how to use a cane. You want the cane on the \*\*opposite \*\*side from your injury–you want to be kind of making a triangle with your injured leg on one side, the cane on the other, and the good leg in the middle. > > Side note: the latest season’s DVD set is supposed to be shipping on Monday! Woohoo! I can finally get caught up. Depends, according to my physioterrorist [well, ok actually he is a really nice guy, who just likes tormenting patients with 'Just 5 more … 4 more… 3 more… you can do it … 2 more … one more. OK 5 minutes then we need 20 more"] it is a valid use of a cane to be used with the arm on the injured side to act as the major weight bearing limb. You use the triangle method if it is more of a balance thing. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/24 "2009-08-28T18:17:15Z")
I use a cane for weight bearing and it feels like my bad leg is more stressed using same hand. _shrug_ ETA:Possible factor might be since I’m right handed and the bad leg is my left. ---
**Author:** ![Hakuna\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hakuna\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna_Matata)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/25 "2009-08-28T18:42:04Z")
It was my understanding from PT that you use the opposite hand from where the injury is. One reason is so that you don’t twist and hurt your back,which I gather is a common injury with one crutch or a cane. When I was just using the one crutch it was on the opposite side and I was told that by both Physical Therapists and both Doctors I saw. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/26 "2009-08-28T19:15:08Z")
🙂 That’'s why I loves mah Doper Kids! Ask a question here, and within minutes you get help along with lotsa TLC! 🙂 I’m upstairs rignt now, and have only short distances to go - bathroom mostly - and so that “triangle” thing worked pretty good. The _walker_ (:eek:) I use downstairs, belongs to one of my sisters-in-law (not the recently-deceased one), and it has its own saddle bag which contains: 1. 3 Nora Roberts paperbacks 2. Crotcheting needles and wool with patterns 3. Nail polish and nail polish remover 4. AARP magaizine with Bruce Springsteen on front cover I’ll let y’all know what I replace all of that with, kk? :)😃 Thanks Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/27 "2009-08-28T21:52:02Z")
Psh, whaddaya mean, “replace”? Sounds like a good stash for you, old man! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/28 "2009-08-28T22:24:04Z")
**Quasi** : Do you still have your guitars? Not that you can put it in the saddlebag or use it while you’re walking; but it would probably be more fun for you than reading the Nora Roberts paperbacks and crocheting while you’re laid up. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/29 "2009-08-28T22:57:33Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Psh, whaddaya mean, “replace”? Sounds like a good stash for you, old man! 😃 **A’ight** , now!😃 “Demented” doesn’t necessarily mean “old” ya know! Well, it _can_, I reckon!🙂 Every time someone here calls me old, it makes me think of Dana Carvey’s “Grumpy Old Man”… “…In my day we didn’t have hair dryers. If you wanted to blow dry your hair you stood outside during a hurricane. Your hair was dry but you had a sharp piece of wood driven clear through your skull and that’s the way it was and you liked it!” Wonder what he’d say about dementia? # “We didn’t _have_ dementia in my day! If you started actin’ goofy, why, we’d just take a hand-drill and bore a hole in your skull and let that shit **out**! Yeah, you walked around like a zombie and drooled for the rest of your life, but that’s the way it was and we _liked_ it!”😉 **Johnny L.A.** , yeah still have three of them (sold the Strat), but things have been in such turmoil lately, I haven’t felt like doin’ much pickin’ and grinnin’, but things’ll get better. I recently re-united with my best friend in high school who has composed some very fine tunes, and he and I have sat down together and played some, so I’m sure we’ll get back to some of that. I’d really like to promote him as an Indie artist once my life settles down some more… Anyway, in the words of Jerry Lee (“All ‘Killer’, no filler”), I’m “Hangin’ in like Gunga Din!” Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/30 "2009-08-31T15:51:17Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > “Demented” doesn’t necessarily mean “old” ya know! Psh, the dementia doesn’t have anything to do with it–you’re “old” 'cause I’m 26. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/31 "2009-08-31T16:47:46Z")
If in using a cane or a crutch you find yourself putting a lot of weight on your palm to help lift, as opposed to steady, it’s possible to also suffer from some nerve damage there. What I’ve found helpful in the past was to use gloves designed for either bicycling or weight lifting. They have some extra padding that’ll help protect you while at the same time being light weight and breathable. Neither covers the fingers either so that dexterity remains intact. Hope the recup’s going well, Quasi. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/32 "2009-08-31T17:28:34Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Psh, the dementia doesn’t have anything to do with it–you’re “old” 'cause I’m 26. 😃 :rolleyes:_SIGH_:rolleyes: It’s just as I have always said: “No respect for their elders!”😉 **lieu** , Thanks. Luckily when I’m in bed, I can kinda “nudge” myself over to the computer chair, because our PC is only about 3 feet from my side. I still can’t maneuver too well with just the cane, so I am using just one crutch, under the right arm, and am getting around okay that way. If I try to use both crutches, it’s such “close quarters” up here (upstairs bedrooms), and I’m so unsteady, that I look like a just-beheaded chicken, flopping around, knocking things over, and, because I’m still having periodic rages, I am not a pretty sight when that happens! **SFG** , you can “see” that in your “mind’s eye”, right?:D:D:D Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/33 "2009-08-31T17:38:39Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > **SFG** , you can “see” that in your “mind’s eye”, right? See it… and have a hearty chuckle at your expense. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868/34 "2009-09-01T23:25:31Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > See it… and have a hearty chuckle at your expense. 😃 You’ve got the right idea, **SFG**!😃 Always leave 'em laffin!😃 Q [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-on-the-disabled-list/507868.md?page=1)