Red Carpet Appearances with Crutches

Think the Hollywood elite wouldn’t dare to walk the red carpet with a pair of crutches? Think again.

After all of the splendor of this week's Emmy Awards, we thought it'd be fun to bring you this list of people who have made red carpet appearances with crutches:

Dot-Marie Jones (Coach Beiste) at the premiere of the third season of Glee last month.

Susan Sarandon at the New York City premiere of "You Don't Know Jack" in 2010.

British soap opera star, Kelly Marie Stewart at the British Soap Awards in 2010.

Serena Williams on the "orange" carpet for the Miami Dolphins game November, 2010.

Matthew Gray-Gubler at the premiere of 500 Days of Summer in 2009.

Soccer star, Christiano Ronaldo at the 2008 Espy Awards.

George Clooney's date, Sarah Larson, at the New York premiere of "Michael Clayton" in 2007, and George himself back in 1997.

Just because you're on crutches, doesn't mean you're not fabulous. Crutches can make quite a fashion statement, especially when blinged-out with décor or skins. Make your own unique red carpet statement and think about ways you can add some personality and fun to your crutches…and share your ideas with us in the comments below!

Teaching Your Children How To React to People with Disabilities

Guest post by Lindsey Carmichael

Most people are afraid or embarrassed to interact with someone in a wheelchair or on crutches, and I think this is common for two reasons. First, many people have not had the opportunity to interact much with disabled people. That’s the primary reason anyone feels awkward or nervous around someone from a minority group.

The second reason is a scenario I see very often and it is almost tragic. In an effort to be polite, most people will teach their kids to not bother any disabled people they meet. Let’s say for example that I am at the grocery store checkout next to a mother and her son. He is naturally curious about my Mobilegs and will look at me quite openly, trying to figure out why I am different.

Often a kid in his position will ask the obvious question. At this point, the normal reaction of the mother is to turn beet red, scold her son for being rude, apologize to me, and drag her son away. I feel really bad for the parent in this situation since they are only trying to be polite — and are probably just doing the same thing their parents told them.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t teach the child to be polite. This teaches the child that a disabled person is scary, different, and shouldn’t be approached. It is true that nobody likes to be stared at, and when I was young I used to be embarrassed. Think of what it might feel like for a mother to tell her son not to stare at you. Wouldn’t you start feeling different and wishing people wouldn’t approach you, either?

The best solution for this that I have seen is for the parent to allow the child to look and ask their question, then to answer calmly. Even if you feel weird, just pretend that everything is normal — and it will be. I love it when the parent suggests to the child that maybe they could ask me politely why I am on crutches. This has the added benefit of giving the child full permission to interact with me, and to become comfortable with speaking to someone different.

I am always sure to take the question seriously and to give an honest answer, even if it’s just as simple as “I get sore sometimes and these help me get around.” When a parent responds instead of overreacting, he or she will help the child and the disabled person so much more than if they simply tried to be “polite” in the first place.

Lindsey Carmichael is a two-time Paralympic archer and Mobilegs user.

Five Stretches to Prevent Fall Sports Injury

With a new school year comes a new season of fall sports, from elementary school to college athletics and beyond.

Football…22 players on a 100-yard field tackling one another over the pigskin.

Gymnastics, cheerleading, diving…athletes flying through the air without any protective padding.

Cross-country running…which has been reported to have the highest injury rate of scholastic sports.

Unfortunately, fall sports bring the tendency for injury that can be devastating for young athletes and of course, a constant worry for parents and coaches alike. A large majority of injuries are caused by dehydration and improper (or utter lack of) warm up and stretching.

The Mayo Clinic offers stretching exercises as a guide for injury prevention. Here are five basic stretches that can help prevent common sports injuries to the legs and hips:

1. Calf Stretch. Using a wall for balance, place one foot in front of the other and slightly bend the front leg forward, keeping the back knee straight and heel on the floor. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds. Switch legs and repeat.

2. Hamstring Stretch. Lie on the floor and raise one leg, keeping the knee slightly bent. Straighten the knee and hold the stretch for 30 seconds. Switch legs and repeat.

3. Quadriceps Stretch. Using a wall for balance, grasp one ankle and pull heel up and back. Hold for 30 seconds. Switch legs and repeat.

4. Hip Flexor Stretch. Kneel on one knee, placing the opposite foot in frond of you. Lean forward, shifting more body weight to our front let. Hold for 30 seconds. Switch legs and repeat.

5. ITB Stretch. Using a wall for balance, cross one leg over the other at the ankle and extend the same arm overhead, reaching to the other side. Hold for 30 seconds. Switch sides and repeat.

Regardless of preventative measures, there were an estimated 1,195,815 high-school sports-related injuries in the United States during the 2010-11 school year. Injuries do happen, and often times, athletes are given crutches that have the potential to cause additional injury. If you (or someone you know) suffers from an injury, we hope you’ll consider Mobilegs crutches during recovery, and get back in the game as quickly as possible.

Five Amazing Feats That Took Place on Crutches

Being on crutches got you down? Here are some amazing feats that have been accomplished by people with their crutches.

John Sandford Hart has completed SIX marathons on crutches, earning him two Guinness World Records - Fastest Marathon Completed on Crutches – one leg (6 hours, 24 minutes 28 seconds in the 2011 London Marathon) and most marathons completed on crutches.

And, Sandford was not the first to hold the one leg record. Simon Baker completed a marathon with one leg and crutches in 6 hours and 47 minutes in 2008, smashing the then current record by 26 minutes.

After suffering two stress fractures in her leg during her 5-year run around the world, 61-year old Rosie Swale Pope completed her journey…on crutches.

This man crutched his way up the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand.

After polio rendered him paralyzed from the waist down at the age of two, William Tan walked using his hands and dragging his feet because his parents were too poor to buy him crutches. He did this until the age of 10 when he was given an old pair of crutches. He later went on to pursue an Ivy League education, become a doctor, train at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic and became the first man in history to complete 10 marathons over 8 continents over 70 consecutive days.

So really, the sky is the limit – being on crutches doesn’t have to stop you from accomplishing anything. Tell us…what feat, large or small, do you (or did you) hope to accomplish while on crutches?

Meet Lindsey Carmichael, Two-Time Paralympic Archer

The following is an excerpt from our interview with Lindsey Carmichael, two-time paralympic archer and user of Mobilegs crutches. Watch for her future guest posts here on the Mobilegs blog.

I was born with a rare bone condition called McCune Albright Syndrome. Basically, it amounts to lots of broken bones in my adolescent years, and as I like to reassure people, “rockstar parking.” It isn’t the kind of condition that really lends itself to sports, because even in something gentle like swimming there is the chance of slipping and falling.

When I was in middle school, a teacher suggested that my friend and I go take an archery class, and I stuck with it. Archery woke up my competitive nature. As much as I enjoyed practice with friends, I began to look forward to each new tournament, where I might have a chance to prove my abilities and determination. Little did we know at the time that my teacher's suggestion coupled with my enthusiasm and determination would pave my way to Athens and Beijing.

Photo Credit: Marsha Miller 

Archery is a sport that is open to just about everyone—whether you are short, tall, male, female, six years old or ninety-six, able bodied, on crutches, in a wheelchair, one-armed, or even blind. I fit into some of those categories (short, female, and on crutches) but I have seen all kinds of people find joy in the sport of archery, which really does try to level the playing field for everyone.

I upgraded to a pair of Mobilegs in February of 2011 at the suggestion of my dad, who is also my primary archery coach. My old pair of crutches had once seemed cutting edge, but over a decade of use had strained the nerves in my wrists enough to give me carpal and radial tunnel syndrome. This is bad news for someone who relies on her arms and hands all the time!

My crutches were causing me pain during archery practice and made me dread the days where I knew I would have to cover a lot of territory on foot. Sometimes I would have to ice my forearms before going to evening archery practice. So clearly, even though I had grown very attached to my crutches—enough to joke about them as extra limbs—they were doing me more harm than good.

I feel silly admitting this, but I actually put off trying Mobilegs because I was so attached to my old crutches. When you rely on something so much that it’s nearly impossible to imagine life without it. But once we took them out of the box and adjusted them for my short height and my unusually long arms, I was beginning to consider using them — you know, maybe as backups to my normal crutches.

Then, I noticed how similar the grip of the Mobilegs was to my archery bow grip – so much so, that when I first had the honor of talking to Jeff Weber, the designer of Mobilegs, I asked if he had used an archery bow grip as his inspiration. (He hadn’t—he just has the good sense to make an adaptive product that conforms to a moving human body, instead of the other way around.)

Mobilegs have become far more than I guessed they would. I use them all the time and can barely stand to be on my old pair of crutches. I took Mobilegs with me everywhere throughout my final semester at the University of Texas, with all its staircases, steep hills, crowded hallways, and slippery linoleum. I even used them to walk in my commencement ceremonies when I went to receive my diploma and more recently, out dancing with my boyfriend.

Additionally, I really like that Mobilegs look cool. My old crutches were things I went out of my way to hide, to the point that I would photoshop them out of photographs. Mobilegs feel more like big accessories. I get compliments on them just as much as I would from a nice purse or pretty pair of earrings. That may seem like a small consideration… but when you have to keep something with you 24/7, you want it to look good.

Most importantly, though, at the end of a day spent on Mobilegs, I can shoot archery without pain. I can type, and write, and swim laps, and chop vegetables, and do all the things that used to make my wrists ache after a day spent bearing my full body weight at the worst possible angle.