Good Morning. At the end of this month I will be a year post stroke. I am still wobbling around the house using my stick although I have been trying to walk without it with some very shaky success! I darent walk outside on my own so if we go out for a meal etc my husband is always holding my arm. Had anyone managed to walk as they did pre stroke and if so how on earth did you do it? I really can’t imagine ever being able to even walk short distances on my own
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Sometimes I just carry my stick, only using it if I really think I need to.
Well done on your progress, I know how important finally being able to walk is. A wobble is better than no walk at all.
This Forum is a great place to report and record your successes.
Partners are such an important part of progress, too, aren’t they?
Keep on keepin’ on
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@Apple keep going you are making progress even if it seems you’re not.
I haven’t got back to pre-stroke walking but i’ve come across others that have so don’t give up you can get there.
Some of it is about building your confidence back up again & this will come in time. Try not to worry about needing your stick. I take mine when I go out to help me stay upright but it also serves as a visual for others that I have mobility problems & they tend to give me more space than they otherwise would. It’s also good for clipping prople around the ankles if they get too close 
not that I do that of course but the mischievous side of me would love to 
Best wishes
Ann xx
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I found myself intently watching other people walk as I realised I couldn’t remember how to. Then it dawned on me that walking in the past is a sub conscious thing. The more you think about it, the harder it is.
The key bit I think is how your feet land. If you feel how your good side lands and try to replicate that on your weak side ?
One thing I did work on was to stand next to something I could hold onto firmly. Position your feet so you are stood in a walking position. Then do a step with one leg, move it back and keep repeating it. Feel your standing leg rocking from your heel to your toes.
Then swop legs round and repeat. Give up before you get tired.
I practiced a lot on grass. It’s not flat which I think helps and if you did fall, it’s softer than a pavement.
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I’m 5 months post stroke and can now walk normally without the use of an aid. I started to walk the day after my stroke with the use of a walker, then progressed to a stick a couple of weeks later. I ditched the stick a few months later. I’m a long term horse rider who has a pretty good sense of balance and I think that has helped a lot. I’m riding again now, albeit slowly. I walked a lot on grass when I gave up the stick so if I did have a wobble it was a soft landing. A good physio is very important. Good luck, you will get there.
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I had another thought that might help you, I broke my back in a riding accident 8 years ago and was bed bound for a few months, When I was learning to walk again I had physio in a swimming pool which was really helpful. It gave me the chance to practice walking in a completely safe environment and your muscles, which lose strength very quickly, get a really good workout.
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Hi @Apple
I’m 3 years past this weekend :-)! I’ve found most things recovery wise in that time face the "use it or lose it challenge” and the truism of "the more you use it the more capable of use it becomes” .
Since I have no intention losing stuff I’ve pushed capability constantly or is that continuously or continually or all three.
In all cases I have found things start slowly, speed up, reach a capability where unless you change regime progress is hard but changing regime or reverting to one changed some months ago gives fresh progress .
So the fact that you are hobbling around using work surfaces and sofas and rollators and sticks is a fantastic achievement versus being chair bound . It will give you great progress after you overcome the initial difficulties and before you reach diminishing returns.
But it won’t get you all the way. As the diminishing returns build so I suggest you attack different problems for example coming downstairs forwards rather than backwards, imaginary tight rope walking, then backwards, then with your eyes shut - You only need to go about 10 steps initially but that is quite a challenge. Also sit to stands, which progress to 1 foot ahead of the other sit to stand, and some other exercises that a PT will help you with.
I found i out grew PTs advice fairly rapidly, I didn’t find they had visceral understanding of my challenges but they had knowledge that was useful in the very early days Which has my capability grew I could use as the basis for inventing my own exercise regimes.
I strongly support the advice above the said examine how your other leg moves. In terms of walking I think two other things I still focus on with every step is swinging my leg from the knee in a straight line and not in the curve from the hip, striking the ground with my heel, and distributing my weight to the centre and outside of my foot and not all on my big toe joint. Your gait challenges will be different probably but similar needs for self observation
With walking there is always the danger of falling. I would suggest searching this forum for falls prevention video from different strokes that I posted sometime this year. Also look at YouTube and elsewhere advice about falling without hurting yourself and getting up after a fall - because if you’re pushing the boundaries you will fall - I fell in my early days including once in the garden that took me half an hour to get back from cos I fell into a hole! I used to walk most frequently on the beach nearby both because of the sand was a challenge and it was soft if I fell. Clearly you have to live in the right part of the country for that though!
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@Apple
Hello: do you have a therapist working with you to help with walking freely? very important. I worked and worked over and over bit by bit and now when I use the cane I feel a tad awkward. Keep going with moderate exercise.
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Cool - that’s one of Tara’s from a long time ago¡!
She and Elyse newlands are very good
Oooow haven’t discovered that one I’ll have a look…
I find that carefully arranged furniture and other fixed objects help me to walk unaided in my own home. My kitchen is quite compact so I can do jobs in there mainly by holding on to or leaning against worktops. That helps me to do all the two handed jobs easier.
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I find it helped to wear 2 pound ankle weights when walking in my home or the sidewalks for awhile. I switched from the shoes I was wearing after strokes (flats) to the shoes I wore pre-strokes (heels) and can now walk as before (like my brain just remembered the familiar shoes). I do have some trouble in crowds, noise, lighting changes so take my cane with me for that. @Mrs5K I love you,I use mine in the same way. And to beat children with. Just kidding, I only threaten to beat them and it makes them giggle. For Halloween I am dressing up in mismatched hospital socks and gown with rollers in my hair. I will be sitting on my rollator with four post walker in front of me and cane in hand. I will raise the cane, point it at the kids and yell harshly “Get off my lawn!” to scare them before I hand them candy.
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DeAnn. That’s so funny! Hadn’t thought of using my stick to beat anyone up but could come in handy in the future!
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I always give someone a little tap with my 145cm RNIB guide cane with the big roller ball on the tip if people don’t get out of my way or don’t notice me and bump into my cane or me ha ha.
And I’m not easy to miss!!
Oh and by the way - yes - all my sticks have mini polar bear stickers all over them (aside from the crutch as I don’t use it much anymore thankfully)…
Children quickly learn without a tap as my cane is generally bigger than tham and when they realise they immediately are considerate - and mostly parents also note me and get their kids out of the way.
I don’t get out much so do like tapping 20something year olds who just don’t look ha ha.
K
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I’ve got your number, flirt! Admit it, you have been using the canes to get the attention of the lovely young ladies, haven’t you?
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My stroke consultant keeps telling me too!
So far I’ve managed this at the darts at the o2 in London - JP didn’t get one ha ha!!
But When I get out and about more I will use all my techniques 
by the way that white blob on my green hoodie is actually a mini polar bear pin of course. And the young ladies got a mini polar bear each and they seemed happy to make a partially sighted mad guy smile
I have a stash of the good stuff!
come to me for a fix anytime - you will get a smoothie and a lollipop and a polar bear!
My friend Chris says apparently Victor Hovland got more ladies in his pic after the Ryder Cup win 
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I think you need to start putting some of exercises to some good more practical use. Tense and flex your spinal muscle, then your gluts, thighs, calves, and start using them more, get them working for you and where you want to go.
I was walking alone and unaided within a year of my stroke…18mths to 2yrs proficiently. But we are all different! Plus you have had the setback of your broken arm, the fall being a setback to you psychologically too. So you’ve got that holding you back also.
There are also several members in my aphasia group who once again walking proficiently unaided, as well as some who use a stick and some who limp around.
There is a young very well dressed man in south England, very fit and healthy looking, doesn’t need a cane, with his whole life ahead of him…he’s currently receiving chemo. But you wouldn’t know to look at him!
There’s also a very pretty young woman in the same city as him, equally well turned out, fit and healthy looking, doesn’t need a cane, busy on her phone, could be a solicitor I think…she does have terminal cancer! But you wouldn’t know to look at her! I don’t what cancers they have but I do know they both also had their covid boosters too.
Just pick up your cane and start walking, an hour a day, every day, that’s what I did! And I’ve had to do it three times now! It works if you let it And yes, those two people are very real!
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