One Year of Working Legs

One year has now passed since I first wrote about my working legs and using the FES bike. In the year, I have had 26 sessions (24 visits) and biked nearly 55 miles with my own legs. I have also put about 1,900 miles on the van in traveling to and from Des Moines to go biking.

In this time I have seen my leg muscles increase in size and generally stay much less spastic for about a day after a session. One nurse has noticed the start of improved circulation in my legs and my skin doctor has also seen circulation increased to help wound healing.

I no longer grin like a child when biking, but it is still a very great feeling. Seeing my legs actually moving on their own, and getting exercise is not like anything else I do. The sensation I get from feeling them move in a regular cycle is a wonderful change to just usually having no movement. A change was made to my stimulation settings a few weeks ago and I was beginning to feel what I think was pain in my one leg. I didn't think this was good though, so yesterday they were adjusted back a little.

After missing a few months this winter, I have mainly been going weekly since late February. The increase in frequency has been a good change in decreasing muscle spasms. When I have been able to go twice a week it's even better. I can only guess how 3-4 days a week would go, but it would certainly be great to have calm muscles that still get good exercise.

At this point, it looks like I will continue to travel to Des Moines to use the system. Unfortunately, policies for insurance and the bike company don't exactly work well together. This has been a busy part of the quad life this year in coordinating time to get to the bike and get a session in, but it is one I'm very thankful I can do. This video from last week is what each time looks like, just with better audio in real life. Until next week, we'll see what comes!