So, I go  to meet Mitch each week for PT.  I had wanted to try getting my right foot inline with my left foot. In the two years it was getting better (but obviously I wanted more !) It would be nice to just go up or down the stairs an a normal way but it took ages each time I did it.

Also, one thing that was really annoying was the fact that on holiday for example, there weren’t any hand rail’s on the steps outside.  Here I kind of know which steps I can go down/up but sometimes I would just have to say ‘no’ or take the lift,  if that were the case. (before the stroke I used to run up and down these steps – sometimes 2 at a time !)

Anyway, Mitch had been thinking about how to do this, maybe going back to basics and came up with a simple ‘Step’ (I had spent along time doing Step classes throughout the years.

All of a sudden the dance moves came back to me (I am not saying literally lol ). But, I could see myself doing the arms and the legs movements and they wouldn’t go away.

At first I stepped on to the Step, balancing my left arm on the hand rail and then I  stepped on with my right.

 

He then made me do my left foot and then see what difference that made. Then, he said go with it on the right but try and use the left hand side to imagine what the right hand side would do.

 

It was good, already, the second video, was looking more straight on the right hand side.

Also, again we did the treadmill to see how that was going and again it was looking good, the right hand side was lifting up.

 

I know that it sounds silly but in focussing on these two things made a hole heap of difference. It may be in a few weeks time we will try something else – who knows, but in the meantime, these are the main focus (apart from everything else !!!)  Maybe at the time, it wasn’t right for me but suddenly it seemed that I could ‘just do it’ whereas my brain was saying ‘no’ before. It was slow small steps which took a long time, but I did it and it was only going to improve

Also I had been using the ‘Chest Press’ for quite some time.  I found that I put my right hand in it and then my left hand pulled forwards and out, so that each time it would just be the left hand doing it and then the right hand with the assistance of the left hand side.

However, the other day I thought I would give it a go, using 2 hands at the same time.

Actually, I couldn’t believe it, it was hard (as you can see below ) but I was just shocked  lol I could see a positive in that they both went out together and back.

 

 

I just need to pull it down and in from the elbow as you can see on the right hand side

So, all in all, this was a positive week, sometimes life does the same old, same old in terms of the gym, but sometimes the body and the brain kind of work together to make things come to life again.  ( Although there is a lot more to do yet – don’t worry lol).