Skiing after a stroke

Does anyone have any experience of this (not necessarily personally!)I will of course get professionial advice but I had already booked to go to Flaine Jan 2011 before having a stroke 2 days before we were due to go to Val Cenis this March!

There is lots of information on the net if you are disabled by stroke, so I suppose it is really about what disability you are left with if any, If it were me I would certainly talk to my doctors for their opinions, good luck and if your determined enough you will succeed.

Hi Shazzo,
I'm sorry to hear about your stroke. What a shock it must have been :shock: And how awful to have to miss a ski holiday on top of everything else.

I'm glad to say I haven't had a stroke. Only broken bones etc. The National Stroke Association seems to think that it's okay to ski after a stroke, and there is a great range of adaptive gear to help those disabled by their stroke to continue ski-ing:

http://www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SS_MAG_jf2007_mobility

I would say the usual things apply, as to ski-ing after any other sort of injury or illness. Like, checking your insurance, being more careful etc. I think if it was me I'd stick to ski-ing in company on the easier slopes.

Apparently recovery is fastest in the first 6 months but continues for about 2 years, so hopefully you will have recovered quite well by Jan 2011.

Best of luck, and I hope you have a great time :D

Ally

my body's response to the stroke (pontine) is unlike that described by ally, above (both the 2 years thing and the stick to easy). mine happened in february 2006 and i am still mostly improving.

i am an ex-instructor and, after six years re-habbing, do best on the steepest lines where i have to concentrate, and on snow up to about a foot deep.

i say mostly improving because i used to be a decent "powder" skier, but am hitting the wall now in the bottomless. the thigh on my bum leg doesn't always want to fire when it should so i fall over a lot, and i get the "stiff lower leg" syndrome on that side which makes it impossible to absorb bumps and difficult to stay centered front-to-back. and my good leg acts up once in a while just to make the other one feel better.

any ideas, especially on how to get more stable skiing on a bent knee on the affected side?

How about this??
http://www.edgeandwax.co.uk/4713/products/Ski_Mojo_System.aspx?gclid=CPrxgbjuiagCFQQQfAodtCbDCQ

I am really interested to hear your views on this subject. I have not had a stroke but have MS and weakness down my right side so I have to adapt my skiing to accomodate this. Yes it is frustrating, not to be able to do what was easy in the past. But I can still ski. Yeay! This year I took private lessons which suited me much better. When it was suggested I make my turns on one leg, I could say no as I would have fallen over! And I didn't have to explain or be embarrassed in a group situation. I want to ski again next year so any comments gratefully received!
Sue

Shazzo, Sued & MW

Can I just say how brave I think you all are. My Dad had a stroke 18 months ago and the damage it can do both mentally and physically cannot be compared to any other sort of physical injury. My Dad did make a good recovery because he was determined - like you are - to get his life back to what it was. He is 80 and never skied so I can't offer any specific advice but he is back doing what he loves - Gardening - and thats not just pulling a few weeds out - he can dig for England! Whether you will be able to ski next January will depend on many factors and I would discuss it with your physiotherapist as soon as you can. I hope you have a speedy recovery and return to the ski slopes soon.

ParalyticSkiCrazie wrote:Can I just say how brave I think you all are.

I'll echo that.

I can only offer a small amount in terms of personal experience. Two of my grandparents (on different sides of the family) have had strokes. Their after effects could not have been more different. From what little I know, the impact of a stroke can vary so much that it's almost as unique as the individual themselves, and science is still trying to understand a lot of what goes on. I agree to a certain extent with some of the other posters, that determination can play a big role in how much of your previous health you can gain afterwards. However, determination alone may not be enough to regain everything, and if that's the case you shouldn't feel as though it's somehow down to not putting enough effort in. My grandmother never recovered from her stroke which affected her mentally, and continues to have TIAs. She gets incredibly frustrated when she can't get words out for example, and this is not linked to any lack of determination on her part. She is one tough lady and if she could do something to heal herself she would.

On a more practical note, if I were experiencing an area of weaker muscle as a result of stroke (or MS) I would be tempted to try the ski mojo (as suggested by Scapula) which is designed to offer (I think) about 30% more effectiveness to muscles (not convinced it'll help your glute though as it straps on underneath your bum). Other than this, and potentially identifying exercises that may help to strengthen the muscles I'm not sure what else to suggest. I suspect you've all already thought of and tried strength work though, so my apologies for suggesting the obvious.