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Joan Dykstra <[log in to unmask]> wrote: <<Can someone with experience or knowhow please let me know how to walk with a walking stick. My husband is having difficulty with balance. We purchased a walking stick and he does walk better with it, but doesn't really feel comfortable with it. Are there directions somewhere as to how to use the walking stick? A certain rhythm? Anything? Thanks for your help. Joan (56/8)>> and, Mail Joyce44 <[log in to unmask]>wrote: <<Joan, I began using a cane some longs months ago. I refused in the beginning but now it is my silent companion. I go nowhere without it. I use the cane mostly because of my balance problem. A STICK (cane) WILL ONLY INCREASE THE FRUSTRATION LEVEL OF THE PWP who has a balance problem. I use a QUAD CANE this is a cane with a horozontal flat piece if metal attached to the bottom. ON that flat piece are four legs with each one covered by a rubber cane tip. So in reality, Im holding one handle but i have the advantage of cane that does not wobble.>> Using a walking stick may function well for the pwp with balance deficit if used in manner that hand gripping the stick is above shoulder-level. the placing of the stick onto the ground is done with this providing a sense of something to lean upon. It is supportive in climbing or descending also - if properly used. My recent first trial of a motorized treadmill included some walking with hands upon the side-bars of the device as well as walking without support and swinging my arms. The latter is much more difficult! I believe it is because the deficit of sufficient dopamine to transmit all the balance-related feed-backs from the peripheral nervous systems sufficiently rapidly to the various central nervous system and motor system neural messages to compensate for the unsteady feeling/actuality occurs for us pwps. my walking was easy with hands on the bars lightly (or much support) at 3 miles per hour pace; difficult to do with hands being free to swing arms rthymically opposite to legs position. At 5 mph, I could barely maintain a walking motion with hands on the bars. there was no balance difficulty - just inability to move the legs fast enough. (This may be due to insufficient dopamine in the central motor neural network. At slower pace, much instability felt - and seldom could I keep enough balance to maintain normal walking motion (full steps) - even if starting with hands on bars and getting a good walking motion going , then taking hands off to swing the arms. have others had such experiences? -- Ron Vetter 1936, 1984 PD dz ... "money is coined liberty" ... Dostoevsky e-mail: [log in to unmask] http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~rfvetter