Frozen Foot - Gear and Technique?

[pasley]

John, we are in agreement.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Manny, I had about an hour in the Clackamas River today, and tried out the technique of holding my ankle at 90 degrees while holding the knee at 90 degrees too. This placed my fin at about horizontal to the bottom. My best efforts were choppy strokes with my "normal" foot going up and the other foot coming down about a foot. I also had success with a modified dolphin kick, but again chopping the stroke so that the fins did not travel far for either foot. I suggest you get in the water and try it if you feel your foot/ankle can handle the fin. You can also do the single fin, and that will work. I also went to the bottom and simply used my hands, and that worked very well (our river has a lot of rocks to grab ahold of).

Best wishes,

John

 

[Lizard Leg]

My situation is a little different, but last night at the LDS "Fun dive" at the Natatorium pool (18') I took my prosthetic off and swam around for a little while with one leg. Basically training to see how well I could around with just one fin. It worked, but if there was ANY current I would have been in trouble. It seemed since the weight distribution was all wrong now, every time I tried to kick it would just try to roll me. I tried short strokes, long strokes, a one legged dolphon (this worked the best for me YMMV).

Once I threw the hands into the picture, it went much better. One leg and two hands and I could maintain speed, direction, trim, etc. I might get some of those thin webbed gloves to keep in a pocket just in case.

 

[KoiWatcher]

Thank you all for your ideas.

I have found a dolphin kick with weight distributed to counter a roll useful. I lock the fins one partially behind the other to essentially use them as one fin.

I intend to test as many of your ideas as I can. No access to a pool though I do get to a quarry once or twice a month.

So much to try, it's going to be fun!

Sent from my SCH-I400 using Tapatalk 2

 

[pasley]

My situation is a little different, but last night at the LDS "Fun dive" at the Natatorium pool (18') I took my prosthetic off and swam around for a little while with one leg.).

In you situation with an above the knee amputation some have just put the fin on the stump and that has worked for them, others have had a prostetic leg made. A lady I dive with has one (she is BK) that she locks into a walking position until after she is in the water (avid beach diver) and then rotates the foot into swim postion and locks it there.

Arm swimming is good in zero to very mild current (less than .2 knot).

 

[Lizard Leg]

In you situation with an above the knee amputation some have just put the fin on the stump and that has worked for them, others have had a prostetic leg made. A lady I dive with has one (she is BK) that she locks into a walking position until after she is in the water (avid beach diver) and then rotates the foot into swim postion and locks it there.

Arm swimming is good in zero to very mild current (less than .2 knot).

I am below the knee and also have one of the articulating ankles that goes from walking to swimming angles. The OP's issue seems to be his foot is fixed at the 90º angle in the brace. I tried it the other night in the pool with the foot in the walking position. While doable, with my fins and not being able to bend my knee straight up, it just didn't work to well for me - could be me, could be the angle of my leg, could be the angle of my fins - don't know.

Part of the training I do now is taking the prosthetic off to simulate the liners/sleeves/valve etc. having issues and the leg not staying attached anymore. That was a royal PIA for me Everything just felt unbalanced and felt like I always wanted to roll, and seemed like I went nowhere fast, so still working on an acceptable propulsion method while carrying the prosthetic clipped off to my BC.