Today while zooming around the interior of the largely vacant Frisco Station Mall, I pondered the bounciness of my gait.
Mall walking.
Omigod.
I know.
Who’da thought?
Zooming might be an exaggeration, I actually sort of lurch like a person with a wooden leg which is slightly longer than the real one.
The issue: my left knee and ankle don’t bend as much as they ought to when I take a step – the result: a pirate-like lurch.
My left leg is much like Fred Flintstone’s car, a lot of work goes into getting it moving.
Consciously considering each step is tiresome enough without breaking each one down into: hip, knee, ankle, heel, and toe.
Other than maybe humming, I cannot integrate other activity when I walk pretty.
If I try to talk while walking either the conversation or gait suffers.
I could go back to physical therapy to improve my gait but the thought alone exhausts me. I’d be battling muscle-memory from the past five years. I’m confident my gait will improve with time and conscious practice.
Best thing I can do is keep on walking pretty.
Pick up the pieces 
First.. you are a braver woman than me if you are mall walking! I either wind up wanting to spend money or I get only a few feet before I find someone I know who wants to talk to me.
I do want to say that my previously cruddy gait has gotten me in a lot of trouble for my “good” right knee and hip. I am actually walking OK for the most part now but I have done a lot of damage to
my right and it is not boding well for the future. You be careful while you are walking pretty!
Iam not a mall walker, I too would be shopping instead of focusing on my gait. I have not been able to give up my cane yet, living in Chicago where we have ridiculously cold weather too often for year round walking; I’m limited. today I came to work and forgot the cane at home. So I am hobbling around caneless today which is cramping my speed. Neither my knee nor ankle work right yet. My knee starts to bend as I step forward which is a sizable iprovement over my former stiff legged gait. Having seen my improvement to date. I believe and expect my gait to continue to improve with more time and practice; I too cannot multi task while walking although my neuro- muscular massage therapist says the ability will come back over time. The one worry I have is that I’ll never be able to run again and crouching is out of the question; but that could just be age. Marta
I love your vivid visual analogies. Since my stroke I shop in the middle of a week day to avoid the crowds. It is amazing how many people do not watch where they are going. Stroke survivors are not the only people who have trouble multi-tasking.
I just hosted a dinner for eight and made a yummy paella. The guests were my husbands cousins who were surprised how normal I seemed after having had a stroke; of course that illusion was shattered when I walked. I work every day at the business I own, so mostly my life seems pretty normal to me. Of course I cannot chop things so need help when I cook something, and I miss being totally independent and nonchalance, but it could be so much worse, I feel lucky to be somewhat impaired,and I have confidence that I’ll continue to heal, but it takes so damn long. M