Hi. I am walking reasonably well using a walking stick and also hobbling around the house minus my stick. The problem I am finding is stepping up a kerb. I can walk upstairs holding on to the banister rails but cannot bring myself to rely on just a stick when going up or coming down a step. I always need to hold onto something solid such as the wall. It seems my brain will not accept that I am safe using just the stick. Anyone else feel like this?
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I think you’ve got to practice, and keep practising, until your brain realises you can do it safely. Easy to say, and it’s something I have to practice too. I grade the kerbs near our house so I can pick the right one to practice each day based on how I’m feeling.
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Hi Pamela. I’m sure you are right but it’s so annoying and stressful as are most things connected with a stroke! Trying to think of something I can put in the house to try stepping up on!
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Apple,
Yes, me too!. You are not safe if you do not feel safe. It’s due to poor awareness of your spatial surroundings. Your foot and ankle have many receptors and proprioceptors (driven by interoceptors) that need stimulating and developing to give you stability and confidence. Also your vestibular system may well need improving. It’s highly likely everything will improve as long as you keep challenging yourself, so be brave. Take calculated risks!
My channel will have tips on this
https://www.youtube.com/@Start-Again-xyz
Step safely, you’re doing great!
Roland
Try the Phoenix Fitness Stepper - Adjustable Non-Slip Step Platform for Aerobic Exercise on Amazon for £20
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Thanks Roland. Will look at the stepper. We have got stairs but can’t manage even the first step unless I hold onto the banister rail. Grrrrr! Yet another hurdle to overcome!
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I am the same as I am not able to lift my foot off the floor so can’t lift it to step up. I do use my stick to give me the leverage I need to get up the kerb but where possible I look for dropped kerbs. It is all about practice I think until you feel safe doing it. I have as big a challenge getting off the kerb as my foot just drops to floorbso I have to make sure it is very safe as if it drops too fast it can pull me over.
Could you try practicing on the bottom step of your stairs? Assuming you don’t live in a bungalow of course. Failing that a step device like Roland has suggested would do the job.
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Hi Ann. Yes I’m going to try the bottom step shortly. Watch this space!
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I’ve got an aerobic step to practice on. i use it in various places in the house to test myself; ratheer than just getting used to one specific place. Of course I started with it in somewhere I feel safe to use it before I moved ion to having it in the middle of a room.
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Good luck. You’ll soon build up that confidence.
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Epic fail! Stood at the bottom of the stairs stick in hand! Place stick on step - no way could I put either leg on step! I am very tired after a hectic day so hopefully tomorrow will be better. Our stairs are quite steep so maybe getting a Stepper would work better. Thanks everyone
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Yes, i think you need to consider somewhere else to practise. Your brain probably panicked and thought you were going to tackle the whole flight. Do you have a step atcyour front door? Ideally with a handrail? That, i think would be a better place to start.
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Pamelai1. Can do the whole flight of stairs with the handrail but just can’t bring myself to rely on the stick to keep me safe which is not much good when I’m out and about and have to clasp frantically at a wall!! Going to try a stepper and hopefully that will help with my confidence
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No physiotherapist would recommend this, probably no professional either, because in our ‘who is to blame culture’ they are wary of being accused of some sort of malpractice.
I was told this by a doctor who took me to one side, out of hearing of any but me. He told me, after I had a fall, that my progress would be marked with bumps and bruises.
In other words to move forwards you need to accept that an occasional mishap is going to occur. This gives you the freedom to make both mistakes and improvements.
Restrict yourself and you will stay where you are.
I hope you can bravely go forward sure of yourself.
keep on keepin’ on
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There are times when I think is all this physio, exercise and effort etc doing any good - and today is one of those days!
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You are in it for the long haul. Little by little things will improve.
You will look back one day and realise all those tiny bits total up to a remarkable achievement. You will have arrived somewhere you once imagined was impossible.
keep on keepin’ on
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Hi, I know exactly how you feel. I walk reasonably well with a stick and potter around the house with no stick. I have spoken to many stroke survivors who struggle getting up and down a kerb or step. Like you I’m fine on stairs as long as there’s a hand rail to hold onto. As others have said practice and practice and one day your brain will realise that you are safe just using a stick.
Sorry I haven’t got any useful tips, just wanted to let you know that you are not the only person with this issue.
Hopefully your stepper will make you feel more confident and help you overcome your fear.
Keep on Keeping on and I’m sure you will improve.
Regards Sue
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Thanks Sue. Its just so annoying when you cant do the things you never thought twice about pre stroke. Getting up a kerb should just come naturally but I stand and look at it as if its going to jump out and bite me!!! Hopefully practicing with the Step thingy will help. Its just so frustrating to stand looking at a small kerb and being unable to move. One day maybe we will all be able to just do these things without even thinking.
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The likes of the Phoenix Fitness Stepper, which Roland suggested, has 3 height levels, so you can start on the shallowest level and experiment with the others as your confidence builds.
But also, stepping off a kirb, stair, step, does require good strength and stability in the leg that remains. Because that’s the one that has to carry your whole body weight through that decent. But, you can’t just exercise to strengthen your one good leg, can you 
You go to strength & balance classes now don’t you Apple? Don’t they do sit to stands in a chair (squats)? When you lower yourself down to the chair, do it to a count of five. Then stand back up as quick as you can. It builds the muscular strength in the gluts, hamstrings and calves needed to lift and lower you on your legs. And it’s the knees that take the most strain. I’d say don’t bother with sets of 5-10 repetitions, just keep going until you feel a burn in the muscles down the backs of your legs. Take a minutes rest then go again. It puts a spring in the backs of your knees that me feeling I could run up stairs, but I don’t for obvious reasons 
2 or 3 rounds daily for a couple of weeks and you will notice a difference.
I know I’m always advocating sit to stands/squats on here, but that’s because, for me, it was the magic key to getting me walking quickly and confidently enough again. Yes, I’ve still got foot drop, but outside, in shoes, you wouldn’t notice it so much. And the few times it’s tripped me up outside, I’ve managed to keep to upright on my feet, because my legs are stronger.
This girl 
I’ve recently started following on tiktok.
She has cerebellar ataxia, so has a lot of the same issues stroke survivors have such as balance and gait, limb movement, oculomotor control, proprioception, speech and so on. She’s used many of the same techniques/exercises I’ve used in my 4yrs of recovery…including the sit to stands
Heck, she even makes reference to babies in this one; a baby learning to crawl or stroke survivor relearning to walk and talk, it’s all the same in neurological recovery.
She has one advantage over me though, she’s still got youth on her side 
Lorraine
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You know, even body builders have to take a day or two off from training in the week, and also a week off every month or so. In order to heal and repair from their muscle growth. Your brain is a muscle too you know, needs a little time out So I do the same and I always, always find I achieve or progress more noticeably for those breaks. Switching things up a bit also helps.
Oh and clasping your hands together when you step up/down might help to at least delay the urge to reach for your safety hold
Lorraine
You’re absolutely right. I use a walking stick to walk outside and can step up a kerb ok, but the trouble with this is that there is a tendency to lean towards your stick (or anything you’re using to assist you) in order to carry out this action. That means you aren’t using the muscles in your affected side so much. Sit to stands are good, as well as any other exercises that concentrate on the glutes, quads and hamstrings. I use the stairs at home like an aerobics step (but more slowly), but still keep one finger lightly on the bannister (just in case). Only thing I can’t do is step down the other side (you need something freestanding for that). Tara Tobias (Rehab HQ on YouTube) has some exercises for this.
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