Leg braces and stuff

I got new leg braces yesterday; I really hope they work out. I've been walking around the house today, breaking them in. You can't just put on a new pair and go, that would be too much too soon. Especially since this set is completely different from the last three. I have a love-hate relationship with needing leg braces: I love that I can walk better and not get tired out...but I hate them for many reasons.

I first started wearing leg braces, or Ankle-Foot Orthotics (AFOs), when I was 17. I immediately started having issues with the skin on the bottoms of my feet. My skin broke out, cracked, bled, dried out, cracked some more, bled some more....yeah, super fun to deal with when you're just starting college. And that continued to varying degrees until 2010 (when I was 23....yup, almost 7 years of dealing with that). I was tested for allergies, nothing. I tried different kinds of padding in the brace, didn't help.

I hated wearing these so much I can't even describe it

Also, the first pair of AFOs I got were very clunky, thick and hinged at the ankle. The hinge was supposed to give me more flexibility, but it also made this annoying "pop!" whenever I walked and would catch my clothes, making me trip or stumble sometimes. I was still coming to terms with the fact that I had a chronic illness and wasn't comfortable talking about it yet. The issues with the skin on my feet, the cumbersome braces, just everything combined, I didn't want to even think about it most of the time! Suffice to say, I was not a very happy camper.

A few years later, it was time for a new set of AFOs. Wow! What a difference. No more stupid hinge thing, they were lighter and thinner, and needed less adjustments at the outset. By this time, I'd found shoes that fit right, figured out I needed leg warmers and knee high socks to be comfortable, and was just a bit more comfortable talking about why I needed to wear leg braces. I didn't and still don't wear shorts--being so thin, I get cold pretty easy even in the warmer months. If I'm hot I'll just wear a long flowy skirt. Part of that is my style and partly because I feel weird and uncomfortable with my leg braces showing like that. I like to be able to choose to tell people rather than letting them jump to conclusions.

Anyways, I had a third set made with the standard white plastic a couple years ago. It was so nice to have an extra pair. If I came home from work and wanted to go out, I could just switch AFOs and be on my way, not having to worry about the moisture building up on my feet. If you've already been on your feet for seven hours, you really don't want the same sweaty plastic sitting against your skin for any more time.

And now, I have a brand spanking new set made from carbon fiber! They're super light, so thin I can actually wear my true shoe size (instead of having to wear 1 or 2 sizes larger), and will be much more bearable in the summer.

I'm so excited!

As you can see, the back is completely open except for the two straps. The support bar runs down the side of the foot, which means no pressure sores or calluses on my heels. I don't have to worry about skin issues anymore, because the lining of my shoe is what I'll be standing on. You pull out the shoe lining, put the brace in the shoe, then put the lining back in, then slide your feet in. I'm going to have to get used to a whole new way of putting my shoes on actually.

You have no idea how excited I am for this! Carbon fiber is fairly recent, and only within the last several years have the problems been worked out. My orthotics guy told me that he only recently started suggesting this kind of brace, because carbon fiber had problems with cracking and wearing out too fast before. I get that, because I definitely can't have something breaking on me in the middle of my work day!

And like I said, I still have to break them in and get used to wearing something so new. My body actually has to adjust to walking in a more natural way again. I have to get acclimated to the way these AFOs flex when I walk and learn to move with them. Over the next week, I'll work up to wearing them for a full day. In two weeks, I go back to the orthotics office to check in and make sure the braces are working and fitting correctly.

And in the meantime, it's time to do some shoe shopping! I don't think I've ever been so happy to get new shoes.