Support Community for Amputees

I just found Zipped Brands, a company that modifies other brand shoes to add zippers to them. If you have difficulties putting shoes on or lacing them, they seem great! They're not cheap though.

Some advice for Valentine's day.

Today I learned that lower limb amputees are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease. I had no idea.

It's not just due to lifestyle changes that often come with acquiring a disability, but also due to changes in blood flow patterns and modified circulatory demands that impact the entire body.

There are numerous studies on the subject if you look around. This very interesting one for example hints at increased risks for proximal and double amputations, as you would expect.

If you didn't know, I would suggest you talk to your doctor about it.

Team UnLimbited supplies the Alfie Edition Arm and the Phoenix Hand:

You can download the OpenSCAD files and instructions for the Alfie Edition Arm or the Phoenix Hand and generate custom STL files that you can print and assemble yourself.

Alternatively, you can request a device directly from Team UnLimbited. But of course they have a waiting list.

Team UnLimbitied is a UK-registered charity, but they partner with e-NABLE US, e-NABLE France and the LimbBo Foundation - another UK charity.

We're on the list of people who caused the crash too, along with mentally disabled people, blind people, deaf people, little people, paralyzed people and people with epilepsy. Ain't you glad...

At least we're in good company.

Christoffer Lindhe always is always interesting to listen to. I like his personal take on dealing with grief in this video with the benefit of time.

Great project!

Finding shoes has become a complicated affair for me: either I have to find super wide but short shoes, which are difficult to procure, or - more often - I have to have special shoes made to order.

Years ago, I got tired of never finding anything that fits me locally, or having to buy ugly-ass orthopedic shoes that make me feel like I'm already in the retirement home. And the shoemaker nearest to me that can make me suitable custom shoes that look good is an hour's drive from me and charges a pretty penny.

So I got the idea of making acrylic resin copies of my feet that I could send to cobblers and specialized shoe retailers anywhere in the world by mail.

Now I can shop around on the internet for the model of shoes I really want, send a quick email to the store and arrange for them to receive the prints, try them on the model of shoes I selected to find the correct size, then mail me back the shoes and the prints.

If I need custom shoes made, I find a shoemaker I like at the right price and I do the same thing. The shoemaker can then use my prints directly as lasts, or make lasts out of them so I don't have to send them again if I want to reorder.

And finally, if I need braces or toe fillers made, I can supply my shoes and the prints to my local prosthetist: he never has to cast my feet so he doesn't charge me as much.

Both prints weigh 9 lbs with the bolts, so mailing them back and forth isn't cheap. But in the end, I find it well worth it financially and for the convenience.

The video shows how I made the prints. You might find it useful if you too want order online with absolute certainty that what you order will fit, even if you simply have oversized or oddly shaped feet and you struggle to find proper footwear.

Finally, I suppose the same method can be used to cast other body parts, to have certain types of orthoses or prostheses done by cheaper prosthetists that aren't local to you to save money, or by your local prosthetist so they don't have to recast you each time and charge you less.

But I think it would only work if your residual limb is very stable in shape: if it changes a lot, recasting each time you need a new socket is probably a better idea.

Still, maybe this could work for you too. So I figured I'd share.

This is nice and wholesome. But it should be noted that the people in this video shouldn't have to resort to Youtube charity to be able to walk again.

Okay, this is a bit embarrassing, but I'm going to share this:

If you experience annoying phantom sensations or pain in missing toes or feet, try alternatively spraying very cold and very hot water on your bumhole in the shower.

Not so hot as to scald yourself obviously, but try as hot and as cold as you can bear without hurting yourself.

I know it sounds silly, but try it: it doesn't cost anything and all you need is a shower with a detachable head.

Why did I even think of trying that in the first place you ask?

As you may know, I regularly get itchy phantom toes. It lasts for hours, sometimes days, it's maddening and I can't do anything about it.

When I do the shower thing, it wakes up my missing bits for a few seconds and I can feel the reverse temperature on them - i.e. cold water, hot toes and hot water, cold toes. By alternating the water temperature, I can "massage" my missing toes and work the itchiness away.

Why this happens may not be as random as you'd think.

I already knew I could weirdly feel my toes during prostate exams - which, ya know, if you're a man of a certain age, is a humiliating thing you have to do every once in a while.

I wondered why. So I did a bit of research and I found this page: the cortical homonculus. It's a map of the cortical areas of the brain dedicated to motor and sensory functions of different parts of the body.

And surprise-surprise, the areas that deal with the feet and toes and the genitals (which are kind of in the same general bum area) are adjacent:

Coincidence?

And then I remembered reading about hand-to-face remapping of tactile sensations in upper limb amputees in this research paper.

And sure enough, if you look at the homonculus, the areas for the hands and the face are next to each other.

This paper also suggests that when a limb goes missing, the areas of the brain that "go dark" are repurposed and "invaded" by functional areas nearby.

So in my case, it stood to reason that I could feel my missing bits by, erhm, stimulating my nethers.

I already knew sex doesn't do it. So off I went to the shower to try stimulating something else in the vicinity (without doing anything I don't really want to do for stimulation, if you catch my drift), and it worked rightaway with hot and cold water!

I've been doing this for a couple of weeks now and it's totally repeatable. It gives me a degree of control over my issue without taking Gabapentin, without doing useless massages or spending hours in the sauna: when it hits, I'm not powerless and I can do something about it, and that's a great relief!

Another person who has to turn to GoFundMe to get proper prosthetic care. Truly the sign of a functioning society when people have to resort to the generosity of others through a private for-profit crowdfunding platform to lead a normal life.

This is the prosthetic finger system from Point Designs. I haven't seen that one before. Unlike Naked Prosthetics' fingers, Point Designs' seem to address mainly the need of people with MCP joint-level or ray amputations of the hand. So kind of the same demographic as Ian Davis's fabulous prosthetic hand system, but much less complex.

They use a simple ratcheting mechanism that's designed to be washable, almost maintenance-free and able to withstand 150 lbs of pulling force:

Point Designs supplies an "impression kit" - basically a pot of quick-cure 2-part latex - to take a print of your residual hand and send it to them for fabrication of the socket. So presumably, if you have a handy friend to help your out, you don't need to visit a prosthesist and you can do it at home, potentially saving you money:

Finally, Point Designs offers free fingertip pads for the lifetime of the prosthesis and a 24-month warranty that covers manufacturing defects.

Not too surprisingly, I was unable to find any pricing information.

More worryingly, I was also unable to find any independent review or material apart from the company's own or their distributors'. So ultimately, I have no idea what those fingers are worth.

But they seem really cool so I figured I'd share.

Also this video:

https://youtu.be/vb62KIEAlqc