When I was 24 I decided to go to school for physical therapy. I was bored and thought well I’ll go do this…. A few years after I finished that up I thought, just to mix it up a little, I’ll have a stroke at the age of 30 and completely F up my life. In school I learned this phrase…”up with the good, down with the bad.” This is how I was taught to teach people with a bum leg to go up and down steps. Up with the good – lead with the “good” leg going up stairs, then bring up the “bad” leg to the SAME step. Down with the bad – go down steps leading with the “bad” leg, then the “good” leg follows to the SAME step. This works perfectly for a sprained ankle or broken leg, not so much with a hemiparetic leg with severe ataxia and an intention tremor.
It’s the down with the bad that was my problem. That first year I had pretty much zero control over my right leg(bad leg). Going down is harder anyway and combine that with severe ataxia and uhhh(insert profanity here). Well, now I have complete control over my right leg. But I didn’t then and I couldn’t “lead” with it if someone offered me a zillion dollars to do so. So for the first year the whole “up with the good, down with the bad” thing didn’t work for me.
So what did I do? I led with my left leg(good leg – opposite of what I was taught) going down steps for about a year until I had the strength and control to do it the “right” way. I also held on to railings for dear life.
But that’s totally the PT in me talking, not the stroke survivor. I don’t think there is a “right” way to do things after a stroke. There are things that you should know to make it easier to get around but there is no “right” way. Do what you can, when you can.
