In fact , using only two limbs to walk is so difficult that it has taken immense research , innovation and machine learning to slowly get robots to walk . Robots , at present , still have great difficulty in performing all the functions of walking – upstairs or downstairs . But they can womble somewhat .
Walking is a multi-sensory experience – finely tuned by what we feel , what we hear and see , and knowing the position of where our limbs are ( proprioception ). We should bless and care for our feet , every day . Walking is a very complex cognitive neuromuscular phenomenon .
My medical files are filled with psychologically distressed patients who could not walk again , even though they could learn to shuffle along with crutches or get from A to B in a wheelchair : strokes , Guillain- Barre syndrome , cerebral palsy due to birth complications , multiple sclerosis , tumours , or amputation due to uncontrolled diabetes are some of the medical reasons for losing the ability to walk .
In 2001 , I was called to the Trauma Intensive Care Unit at Milpark Hospital urgently . I walked as fast as I could to meet the patient . A 26-year old man had been driving a motor car with his fiancée and their wedding was in 12 days . The car crashed into a large oak tree to avoid an out-ofcontrol oncoming truck .
The young lady emerged without a scratch on her body ; he fractured his neck , with a complete severing of the spinal cord . He would never be able to walk again ( similar to the 1995 injury to the famed actor , Christopher Reeve of
Superman fame , who was paralysed in a horse-riding accident ).
The reason for the consultation was the severe shock suffered by his fiancée on learning of the tragic prognosis . She was the patient and hysterical . Why did this happen ? What to do ? What could I say ? I just listened and held the pain of shattered dreams . I left the consultation with tears flowing down my cheeks .
How cruel the fate of life . I wonder how this tragic story unfolded over the past two decades . Walking must never be taken for granted .
Physiotherapists are great believers in neuroplasticity ( the ability of the brain to change structure and function due to deliberate , repetitive experience ). Their profession trains many patients to walk
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