New "wheels"

Every time Luke is able to do something for one of his therapists, they challenge him to the next level. For example, after he was able to stand well at a bench and play with the toys there his PT decided to try and have him stand on top of a board attached to rounded boards underneath. The result was like watching Luke stand in the middle of a teeter-totter, he would put weight on his right leg and shift right or put weight on his left leg and shift left. Of course he did all this while the PT had a hold of his hips and I gave him stuffed animals to throw into a bucket.


Well the latest new “challenge” ended up looking like a comedy act. Luke has gotten so confident walking with his current walker; he’ll even stop and take a hand off and wave to someone. His current walker has wheels in the front are set straight, so that if he wants to turn he has to lift his walker in order to do so. Sometimes when he tries to turn he and the walker start to tip sideways and I have to catch him before he falls. Since he is doing so well going “straight”, his PT thought we could try “swivel wheels”.

Because his current walker is the perfect height for him, the PT just wanted to replace his “straight” front wheels with “swivel” ones. It took a while but we found some wheels to “swap” out with his current ones, just to see how he would do. The wheels we found were so “loose” or easy to move that when Luke started to walk with these he immediately started swerving right and then left. Then his next step sent him into a 180 degree turn to the right, causing his feet to stay where they were but his legs twisted over each other. For a moment he resembled a Twizzler.

After a couple 180 degree steps, the PT got her stool out and stayed in front of Luke and used her feet to control the front wheels so that he couldn’t turn as far and was forced to go more straight than sideways. He was not so thrilled with his new “set of wheels”, you could tell he was frustrated when he wasn’t able to go straight or when he tried to turn. Through this whole experience Luke looked like a “drunken sailor” or something. It was pretty funny to watch.

By the second week of trying swivel wheels the PT had found a set that wasn’t as “loose”. This time for some reason one wheel swiveled and the other one was locked in place. So this made it still kind of hard to turn, but at the same time it was a lot easier than his current front wheels. He didn’t look like he was “drunk” anymore, which was a plus. We’ll keep trying and hopefully we’ll find some swivel wheels that will be perfect for Luke, then maybe we can finally turn him loose in the house with it!! Oh boy, I better start putting the higher breakables away!