On 12/02/2014 11:56, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 11 Feb 2014 15:33:29 +0000, Spider wrote:

On 11/02/2014 12:55, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 11 Feb 2014 12:41:20 +0000, Spider wrote:

On 10/02/2014 22:51, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Spider wrote:

You garden bare foot??

If you go around barefoot (which I used to do as a child, gravel and
holly leaves notwithstanding), you pay a lot more attention to what your
feet are telling you. Even though I normally wear shoes now, I'm more
sure-footed than the rest of m family, much less likely to trip over
things or step on breakable or obnoxious stuff.

I agree. I used to go barefoot a lot in my youth and still am fairly
sure-footed. It helps having 8 of course ;~).

Whereas I find it much easier to go barefoot because I am quite the
opposite of sure-footed! With no vestibular (semi-circular canal)
balance, I balance almost entirely by touch through my feet and
proprioreception. But, when I would lose feeling because of the
cold, I simply HAVE to wear boots :-(

But, I quite agree with the attention point - not just consciously,
but in terms of reflexes.

What a tricky condition to live with. Clearly, you've found a way, but
it must be hard in winter - now, in fact.

It's tedious, but I am lucky in that I developed it (and deafness)
very young, but in its severe form only after learning to walk and
talk. I cannot remember anything different, and I can (just) ride
a bicycle and ski. Ladders are a real pain, though, as I need one
hand to hold on the whole time, which makes doing anything very
tricky.



Thank goodness you got the walking and talking sorted out before it
became a problem. Presumably you've also learned to cope with the
deafness, but that doesn't mean you have to like it. Not easy for you.
In your position, I wouldn't even attempt ladders! Despite my
vertigo, I do use a ladder for tree truning but *very carefully*!


In spite of being generally sure-footed, I do suffer with a mild form of
'vertigo' and can suddenly become dizzy. Heights are tricky, too. I
can get dizzy just standing at the kerb waiting to cross a road.
I suppose we all have our little cross to bear.

A huge number of people have balance impairment, as vestibular
function is one of the first things to go as people get older,
and quite a few medical conditions can cause it to degrade
(often permanently).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


I'm sure a lot of my balance problems stem from ear troubles. I had
surgery on my ears when I was little. Since then, I've been diagnosed
MAD - no, not mad (!), but Mild Auditory Dysfunction. I also have neck
pain probs and often feel dizzy when I move my head suddenly or just too
far.

I have that too. You can get rid of one sort of vertigo problems that OAPs get
using simple exercises.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign_...tional_Vertigo



Thanks, Martin. I had a quick scan of that (I'm meant to be doing my
accounts) and will read it more thoroughly later. There's a lot to take
in. Some of that certainly 'clicked' with me.

There's a demo on Youtube. It worked for me very quickly. My GP seemed to have
just discovered it and showed me the Youtube demo. There's an example here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTZfIv165sY and others on the same page.
There's a nearby space museum, which has equipment for tumbling astronaut
trainees in three dimensions. He was all for me giving it a try. My daughter had
tried it and had been very motion sick, so I turned down the offer. A very rough
North Sea crossing finished off the treatment.




I've just watched something very similar to that on an American site,
but it looks simpler (and has a different name) on YouTube. I think I
might try it. I may have similar problems to your daughter, though, or
start a migraine attack, since turning my head seems to have that
effect. Fingers crossed.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay