At 01:58 AM 3/1/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Folks,
>My dad wrote to me and enclosed a picture of himself with a broken nose and
>lacerated face. He was walking and fell flat on his face in the driveway.
> Acoording to him and a neighbor who was watching my dad was walking when
>suddenly his pace accelerated into almost a trot where upon he lost his
>balance and fell. Has anyone experienced this problem and is there some way
>to avoid it?
>
Bill:
My father had the same problem for many years - In his case it was a problem
of ballance- muscle rigidity in the upper back/neck area prevented him from
standing up straight, he had to walk "hunchbacked". Needless to say the
weight of his head pitched forward that way caused him to have a great deal
of trouble ballancing, especially when his PD advanced to the point that he
couldn't take a full forward step - once he started walking the shortened
steps/forward pitch caused him to have to walk faster and faster trying to
stay upright. A walker solved that problem by allowing him to brace his body
with his hands, but before the walker, the only solution was to have someone
walking alongside him at all times to brace him.
Charlie Anjard 47/6 Lancaster, PA USA
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Always remember:
When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember
that the original objective was to drain the swamp!!
