Week 5 - Tuesday 14 February

Just woke up from an hour's nap - my body calling a quick time out after another long, busy and  hard but productive day. 


David has found a solution to the ban on sled pulls - now I pull him instead, both walking and running!!  The sled pull is one of those exercises that helps develop the push off through my feet. Developing that was a big focus of a session today with Eric, in which I had another of those big "aha" moments - that I'd been placing too much emphasis on my glutes in the push off, and not enough in my calf muscles. Eric also got me to focus on carrying the push off all the way through to my big toe. My right big toe has been a bit of a theme in this recovery. It was the last part of my body to start moving again and the last to regain sensation. Now its the last to get properly engaged in my walking. It moves quite well now and there is some sensation, but its still a bit limited, which hinders my ability to drive off it. Today, that started to come, but then I felt a bit of pain somewhere around the toe and ball of my foot. That might be a sign of strengthening sensation, which would be a really good thing. I'll see whether a few strategically placed needles can help in tomorrow's acupuncture session, but I'll spare you the photos of that!
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Week 5 - Monday 13 Feb - rehab for iPhones, and me!

So, in addition to exquisite design, intuitive functionality and legendary attention to detail, Apple can now add mechanical robustness to their product claims. Recent tests by a consumer (David) have shown that an iPhone 4 can withstand a full wash (medium temperature) and spin cycle and still function perfectly well. All you have to do is stick your phone in a bag of rice for two days and hey presto - good as new. And a lot cleaner too!! So here are the other videos from last Thursday. The dead lift jump helps develop triple extension - moving the hip, knee and ankle to create explosive power and speed.  I need that to develop the "bounce and verticality" I mentioned for jumping, running etc. The second jump shows how it should not be done, but fortunately I followed that with several good ones!

These line jumps show some of my residual challenges with co-ordination, especially in my right leg and foot. But they also show that the bounce is starting to come - I'd not been able to get any "spring" before last week, so this was another milestone.

Today I had two hours with Mica, my first sessions with her. It was varied and hard work, and great to have input from another pair of eyes with great experience. We did lots of work on the Pilates reformer (great for addressing my hip flexor issues, opening the pelvis and improving leg co-ordination), had me crawling on the floor in a bear crawl (again hip flexors, whole body co-ordination), high knee kicks etc. Several of the trainers have found that I respond well working against some resistance. As with the sled pull, these runs with resistance bands force me to put my body weight forward and get better force through my legs and feet, which seems to produce a nice clean push off, high knees, good tracking, stable ankles and good co-ordination, especially when I combine that with good arm movement. 

We then tried to transfer that into a normal run, with this result......

Remember that Jamie Gillentine video? That run with Max and Amy is in my sights now!!


Talking of Jamie - he's at PW this Thursday morning, so I'm looking forward to getting to know him. I'm told that he's keen on meeting other clients who progress to this level - to share experiences, challenges, learnings. We are the fortunate ones and sadly there are very, very few of us - though Project Walk is helping to change that.


Its a stormy old night out there in Southern California, so time for an early night with a book or a bit of Whitney-vision

Week 4 - Friday 10 Feb (belatedly!)

David's iPhone went through a full wash in his jeans pocket - and with it the further videos from Thursday! No vids taken on Friday, and so just a quick update from me - largely because I'm now struggling to remember what I did on Friday!! I do recall having a wrestling match with Steve - hands on each others shoulders, Steve pushing and pulling to try to de-stabilise me. That went well, with my feet moving quickly into good positions and my legs giving me good balance and power. Steve's a kick boxer, so I'm going to explore this activity with caution!!


To make up for the lack of video, and in response to special requests from Mark and Tony, here's a shot of Thursday's "metal mohican". This was just a two needle day, not eight - but hopefully the Jack Nicholson look (The Shining) helps up the horror effects!

Week 4 - Thursday 09 Feb - spring time!

So, back to over speeding today! 


My sleep patterns remain erratic. I sleep well one or two nights during the week, but most nights I sleep very lightly or for too few hours. Last night was one of those. Sleep is one of the factors that affects how quickly my body gets into the swing of the training sessions, but I usually find that at 10 am my body kick starts, having loosened up and built up enough adrenaline. This morning, David got me onto the treadmill by 930, for my over speeding session. Most of the session was fine, but nothing special and with one minute to go David thought that I might not make a run today. But then, at 9.59, right on cue, something kicked in and....... I ran at 6.0 mph for about 20 seconds - at least 15 seconds more than Monday and (more importantly) with improved ankle flexion and less pronation. I was delighted with that.


On Wednesday, David and I ran through my goals for the next two weeks. Whilst I've been making great progress, I've been lacking a bit of spring, bounce and verticality, meaning that I've struggled to jump, skip etc. So, today we started to address that. David has some videos of me doing dead lifts (first with just the bar, then with weights), then dead lifts with a jump, then free jumps. I hope to have those videos tomorrow. Anyhow, that all worked, which surprised me! So then I did quick short hops backwards and forwards and side to side. My body surprised me again - that worked really well. 


Then I did some work with Steve to get the quads turning on and off quickly, with some movement in the hips and pelvis. Essentially, I was trying to kick box. Like this.....

and this.......

and then this happened!!!!!!

That was all a brilliant surprise. I left PW very happy today!


I have to show you some of the magic of Southern California. Yesterday, I met up with Anne and Steve again. We drove down to Seaport Village, a dining and retail development on San Diego bay. Nice to get to see a bit of San Diego, but better was to come. We drove back northwards to La Jolla (pronounced "Hoya", in my best Dora the Explorer Spanish accent!). There's lots of money here, and it shows in the houses and high end shops and boutique hotels. This is the coast line. In the distance is the Torrey Pines golf course. What a setting! Last weekend, I had the thrill of seeing a pod of 15 or so dolphins close to shore on Carlsbad beach. But take a look at La Jolla Cove. Max, Amy - keep an eye out for the pelican and the seal pup with the itchy chest!!

I could have spent hours there, even just watching the surf roll in. I was lucky that the sea was a bit stormy yesterday, making for the whitest foaming surf. 

Mind you, not everyone is happy. Apparently two years ago the residents of La Jolla tried to get the seals moved. They wanted their beach back. Stunning!


Tomorrow's training sessions finish at 6pm and then I'm out for dinner, so I'll post my next update Saturday my time.

Week 4 - Tuesday 07 Feb

Today was a lot of fun as well as hard work - as most of them are. Here are videos of my work with David on the trampoline and treadmill. On the trampoline I do one minute with two feet; one minute single leg on each leg; and then repeat it - so 6 minutes altogether, which is really challenging (for most people, I think!). This helps stimulate the neuro system, and is a great workout for many leg muscles and a challenge for ankle flexion and foot placement.

These 360 turns on the treadmill also aim to challenge and strengthen the neuro system, as do side steps and backwards walking on the treadmill. They also get the trainers fired up and cheering - as you'll hear on the video!!

No over speeding today - we'll get back to that on Thursday, but there was good progress, especially with backwards walking. I'm starting to get good lift in the heels, which means that the hamstrings and glutes are really starting to fire. 


That's the product of lots of focussed work, including countless hamstring curls and yet more slugging up and down the gym with the sled pull. Today, David added an extra 10 lbs to the sled, taking me up to 80lbs/ 36 kg (around half my body weight). A client called Tom told me that he wants to do that some day. Its an incredible feeling to be inspiring people around me. I'd understand it if some clients had mixed feelings about seeing me do what they've been fighting for years to achieve, but I've only ever had people tell me that they find it inspiring. Later Tom and his wife started to share some ideas about using whips and stuff to move me along faster! Fortunately, by that stage David and I had got ourselves banned from using the sled pull. Jason, the floor manager, is worried about the damage we might do to the floor!! So, some relief for me there - except that David mentioned a hill outside!!?


Rest day tomorrow, but I will go in mid afternoon to meet with David and Genny to re-work my goals for the next couple of weeks.

Week 4 - Monday 06 Feb

Week 4, and the start of the second half of my time here.


Yesterday's Super Bowl party was great. It was at the home of Erik, one of the long term PW clients, in Corona, about an hour's drive from here. Erik's parents house has a pool (with slide and waterfall!) that looks out onto the mountains on the edge of the desert. They kept about 40 people really well fed and entertained. It was fantastic to get to know many more clients and their families and to learn their stories. As Mark Brill said it would be, the game was a bit secondary - and I probably understood about 30% of what was going on. Madonna's half time show was pretty spectacular (even with her tight hamstring, one slight stumble and lip synching, or so they say!). They know how to entertain out here! On a day of firsts, I tried Moonshine - but only one small one, so as not to end up in the pool!


One session today was cancelled, so I had just two hours with David. I filled the third hour on the spin bike and something called the Curv. The Curv is like a treadmill, but it curves up at the front and back and you power it yourself - the further "up" the curve you land your feet the faster it goes and the faster it goes the harder it gets. It really challenges you to get an even stride length and a steady cadence. You have to get a good foot strike and push off, challenging the ankle flexion, hamstrings and glutes. To vary the neuro challenge and increase the work for the hamstrings, I try powering it with one leg and going backwards. David suggested that I add a one hour warm up before my training sessions - 30 minutes on the spin bike, 30 mins on the Curv. That will mean that I'm now extended to 4 hours a day, just on my walking (plus a couple of hours on my hands). Busy days! All paying off, I  think.


You'll remember that last week I reached 4mph on the treadmill with comfortable gait. This morning I increased that to 4.5mph. At 5mph, things were still going well. So we pushed it to 5.5, then to 5.7, then for just a few seconds to 6.0 then to 6.2 mph (at which speeds, my feet started to flail, although my knees were still coming through well). Last week I was told that the average speed to break from a fast walk to a run is around 6 to 7 mph. Today, we found that for me that's 5.7 mph. Today, albeit in a harness, for just a few seconds and with messy feet and other imperfections, I ran for the first time!!


That's still sinking in. I don't have the words to describe how it feels.

Week 3 - Friday 03 Feb - Rolfing, bouncing and bug sex

I've been Rolfed! As I've said before, I'll explore all avenues to support and accelerate my rehab, so today I had my first Rolfing session. Rolfing is a form of bodywork that reorganizes the fascia. I first learned about the fascia from Viv Spanopolous, Andrew Liaw and Erose's team at Body System Therapy back in Singapore. Its a seamless connective tissue that permeates the entire body and surrounds and supports all of the muscles, bones, nerves and organs. Rolfing works on the fascia to improve postural efficiency, including spinal and pelvic alignment. Today's session also aimed for improved breathing. It seems very much in line with the work I did in Singapore. That  seemed to be helping, so hopefully I can continue that. 


I followed that with two hours with David and one hour with Steve. I didn't quite achieve what I wanted on the treadmill and the hurdles, as my ankles, glutes and hamstrings wouldn't fire as fast as they needed to, causing my feet to get a bit out of control at higher speeds. Even so, there was some improvement, especially on the hurdles. Also, whilst I'd thought that the treadmill measured speed in kph, I learned today that its in mph - so I'm now comfortably reaching 4 mph on the treadmill with no problems (and with effectively no body weight support). That's a lot faster than when I left Singapore. In David's session, I had my first go on the trampoline, including two footed and single legged bounces. That went well - with my feet plantar flexing (toes pointing) and landing as they should. It took me right back to the garden in Shanghai, and the many hours I spent on the trampoline with Max and Amy. Steve got me on the vertical climber - and that's the first time I've used one of those for nearly 5 years. Also a success. So, whilst there were no specific breakthroughs, it was a good, hard 3 hours of work. 


As well as learning all this new stuff about SCI and the body, I'm getting acquainted with the local animal life. If you look closely at last Friday's video from the beach, you may see lines of birds flying in a line of 6 or so, very low and almost touching the waves as they break. These really cool birds are Surf Scoters. They come here in Jan and Feb and are great to watch as the sun goes down. Earlier this week I saw a humming bird just behind the house. And this morning, as was doing my hand exercises and stretches on the roof terrace, I learned that a female ladybird can walk 18 inches up a wall whilst carrying a mating male. Then she fell off - caused by a knee trembler, perhaps. No, he did not let go. They disappeared off under my yoga mat. I thought it best to allow them some privacy.


Its Superbowl weekend. I'm invited to a party at a PW client's house, somewhere in the desert 45 minutes drive north of here. This will be the first time I've watched a full game of American football - I need a bluffer's guide. The party starts at 1 - and ends at 10pm!!

Week 3 - Thurs 02 Feb - a new gait emerging?

I had an enjoyable and busy day off yesterday. I met Anne and Steve Hocknell, friends of my in laws who happen to be in Carlsbad visiting their son and family. They took me south down the coast to Leucadia, where we stopped for coffee before checking out Moonlight Beach, a fantastic surf beach, and then heading back to an outlet mall in Carlsbad - I bought some clothes for the kids, and spied some other shops that merit another trip at the weekend. Late afternoon was spent at a well known, traditional barbers, adding some local flavour; and in the evening I got to know one of the PW clients and her sister over dinner.


I walked back home from the barbers. That was about a 25 minute walk. My gait felt better - more stable, less effort and I was able to maintain a fairly consistent gait over most of that distance, showing improving stamina. Here's a shot of me walking at the end of today's 3 hour session with Steve. I've also included the video from day one, so that you can compare the two. Hopefully you can see what Steve and I saw - increased stability in the right ankle; a bend in the right knee and less (or no) hyper-extension; less stiffness in the right leg; less of a hoik of the right hip; narrower foot placement; increased speed. That's good progress. I still have loads of work to do - but another three weeks in which to build on the progress so far. I think I'm in a good position. 

Here's one of the exercises done today to strengthen and loosen my pelvis and hip flexors.

Week 3 - Tuesday 31 Jan - Hellraiser!

Another 8am start (must have a word with the person who schedules my appointments!), another 8 hour day at PW and some more great work with David and Steve. That included lots of work on the floor ladder and hurdles (including with ankle weights) to really challenge my hamstrings, hip flexors and glutes, and single leg balances and squats on soft surfaces to address the residual weakness in my right ankle (which as Steve causes me to turn on my hip flexors and quads when they should be turned off).  More hard work - more good progress. 


Last week Jason gave a great description of the neuro issues SCI patients face. He said its like someone trying to make a phone call to a specific number in the US telephone network, with hundreds of thousands of telephone lines. Ordinarily, the call gets straight through to the right number but imagine if the network was damaged so that the call went to thousands of different numbers all at once. SCI affects the neuro system in that way. What we are working on now is to try to repair the system so that the correct signal goes to the correct nerves and muscles, and not to several wrong ones at the same time. 


Last week I began to get clear signals through to my hamstrings, glutes and soleus, and that's improved further this week. Yesterday, for the first time I started to feel the connection coming back into my lower abs, and today I managed 20 hanging knee raises, which is the first time I've done that since my accident. That felt really good.


I can't be certain where the gains are coming from, but I do think acupuncture is helping. This morning, I had needles in my scalp whilst working on standing balances and single leg squats and then some slow, controlled walking.  At the start the acupuncturist was hopeful that he might see some improvement. By the end, he was astonished at how far and how fast I progressed, so much so that he asked me to do a video! He recommended that I leave the needles in my head for the rest of the afternoon, so I spent 4 hours walking round the gym like Hellraiser! No pinhead comments, please! One of the other clients told me he's been to bed with the needles in his head. I believe in this stuff - but I'm not ready to go there just yet!!

Week 3 - Monday 30 Jan

I had a really chilled, relaxing weekend and managed to recharge and get myself into a really positive frame of mind. So, I thought today would be a good day to do my full routine of hand exercises and stretches at PW, on top of my 3 hours with the trainers. I just got home after an 8 hour day there!! And a really good one too. 


Here's a video of the overspeeding I mentioned last week. Not the most exciting clip - but it shows the issues I still have with controlling foot flexion and placement at speed (I think this video was at 4kph). But (1) this was about 9am this morning - everyone takes a little time to get going first thing on a Monday! and (2) as David told me AFTER I got off the treadmill, this was with zero weight support through the harness. Last week the harness was taking 45% of my body weight. So this was HUGE progress, especially given that I also reached 5kph. Hoping to better that tomorrow!

I spent part of today's session with Travis on something called the Total Gym (an inclined, sliding bench with an angled foot plate). Its a great way to use double and single leg squats to build controlled movement and get right into the glutes and pelvis. Travis also showed me some strength and stability work he learned from Russia's leading strength coach. Really worked. Where is this all going??!


After my initial assessment on Day 1, one of the trainers said that I should look at the video of Jamie Gillentine, a former PW client. She suggested that I have the potential to achieve something similar. As I said last week, every injury is different, as is the personality and circumstances of every person. That makes each person's potential and actual recovery unique. So, to my mind, Jamie's recovery does not change the odds for mine (I believe those odds are very high). But his video puts in very moving pictures the struggle he faced and his amazing achievements. There are many parallels with my journey so far, the progress I've made and what I am striving to achieve - I know that someday I too will run with my kids again. In that sense, Jamie's video is massively inspirational to me and shows what you and I are hoping, willing and praying for. Here is Jamie's video. This comes with a tissue warning!