Standing Frame

I thought I would give an update on my standing since it's been a while. The last couple of months I've been going in my stander 2 to 3 times a week. I no longer do it with physical therapy; my nurses and PCA's are now trained in and are able to help me with it. This leaves more time for stretching and strengthening in physical therapy. I also was able to cut down on physical therapy from four times a week to three.

When I first started using the standing frame last year, it took me many times before I was able to get up to 90°. My body had to get used to standing again. My blood pressure would drop as well making it harder to stand for long. After a while, I began to get used to it and was able to get up to 90° and also stand for a longer period of time.

For some reason in the past few months I hadn't been able to get up to 90°. In fact I was only able to get up to about 60°-70° before my blood pressure would drop and I had to go down. Plus, it took me about 30 to 40 minutes before I could even get up to that. Yesterday, I was in the stander for about an hour. I was so excited because for the last 15 minutes I was able to be up at 90°. I probably could have stayed longer because my blood pressure was still fine except that I got too tired and that's why I chose to sit back down.

I don't know why or how I was able to get up to 90°. I went in the stander this morning and was only able to get up to about 65°. I'm hoping I'll have many more days like yesterday. I thought that the more times I stood the more my body would get used to it and my blood pressure would adjust, but I guess I have to be patient. It's great that I'm even able to stand in the first place. The other thing is that 60° is still weight-bearing, so even if I don't get up all the way every time it's okay.

Jenni