The limbless Association
The Douglas Bader Foundation
UK Limb Loss Information Center
Blesma (ex military personnel)
Limb Power (charity supporting amputees in the sports and the arts)
Limb Care (charity set up by Ray Edwards - to enable him to create the ultimate limb care center for active amputee rehabilitation)
Tracey would like to hear from any limbless support groups that would like a talk, dance demonstration and workshop.
The Douglas Bader Foundation - November 2009
The UK Limb Loss Information Center - November 2009
"The amputation of my leg forced me to give up dancing for two years but the one thing I never gave up on was hope!"..
"With the right attitude and the right limb there is very little that cannot be achieved, it's still early days and I am already dancing pre-accident choreographies".
The Prosthetic Leg She Had Made For Arabic Dance
It took two years for her residual limb to settle down enough to have expensive legs made privately.
Eventually she was able to commission a leg for dancing which was made by Dorset Orthopaedic in Ringwood. It took a long time to get something functional and aesthetic. It had to mimic barefoot dancing as much as possible.
The Foot...
She 'road tested' two types of feet and the foot she danced on in Raksans Rumba with Veils workshop at Scirocco in April 2009 is not the same one she dances on now. It was wonderfully soft but did not have enough energy return through the carbon fibre spring for travelling steps. The foot she now uses is a College Park “Tribute” foot from RSL/Steeper.
Plantar flexion (up on the balls of the feet) cannot be very high, but is possible to a certain degree if you can balance on the tip of the carbon fibre sprung foot.
Balance and 'driving the leg' is everything. ...
For this you need a socket you can put weight through. Badly fitting sockets can cause nerve pain, numbness, chronic cramping, blisters, bad posture and aches and Pains as a knock on affect right throughout the body.
Tracey has experienced all of these problems trying to get a leg to actually fit properly.
A well fitting leg should have just the right amount of skeletal support without being un-bearably uncomfortable or overly restricting her knee joint.
Continual Adjustments..
Adjustments to the socket have to be made as the residual limb fluctuates. It can swell, shrink or even change shape. Changes to your weight can affect the socket fit.
Adjustments can be made by the wearer, adding or taking away socks that are used to pad out the socket. Or if socks no longer work a visit to the prosthetist has to be made.
For Arabic Dance Performance it needs to look good...
The silicone covers made by Dorset look amazing and really life like. The downside of the silicone cover is that it makes the limb quite heavy to wear and this in turn affects the performance the 'handling' if you like.
Many amputees prefer limbs completely stripped of any extra weight to get the maximum performance out of it possible. So with these limbs you see the bare components of acrylic, steel and carbon fibre. They are very popular with particularly active or sporty people.
Tracey has started training again at workshops in the UK with top dancers to encourage her to push the boundaries of dancing on an artificial limb. Ultimately a leg like this would be desirable for such activities because it will allow optimum performance in prolonged use.
My children, my brothers and their children and my wonderful Mum! Three generations all together. There is no greater blessing than family.
How She Copes Emotionally
To begin with it was too easy to think about what was no longer possible. This was a negative thought process and she quickly learned to use positive thought processes instead.
You don't know what you can achieve unless you try. On our family Crest (and a CB awarded to my father by the Queen for his services as a nuclear physicist to our country in 1980) our motto is "Conatus res gesta est" (To try is enough).
- She always counts her blessings - every day
- She always focusses on what is possible, or might be possible
- She keeps very busy
- She makes sure she is needed and valued by others
- She listens to her inner self and respects and celebrates her individuality
"Life is not about weathering the storm, it is about dancing in the rain" ~ Unknown
"My partner Neil and My Son Joshua have kept me strong, we all need each other".
Tracey who absolutely needs a creative outlet, also used the time away from dancing to study metal smithing and jewellery making and is working towards setting up her own natural gemstone jewellery business, Earthbling.co.uk which she hopes to have this fully launched by the early Summer of 2010.
"Bluebells Forever" choker set with a HUGE 93.5ct AAA grade Amethyst stone in hand-forged sterling silver, with silk thong and heavy silver clasp.
Made by Tracey.
