Walking the parks/injured leg?

[Grumpy23]

I am soooo bummed. Countdown is 30 days until we leave for WDW. I somehow injured my leg, I believe while working out. I'm not sure, but I think it might be my achilles tendon. I had an x-ray last night and go to the doctors tomorrow to find out the results. I have a feeling he will send me for an mri, if the x-ray doesn't show anything. I am having pretty hefty pain in my left leg where the achilles tendon is. I am able to walk, but not without pain and at times, it is excruciating, even when I am sitting.

What timing!!!

Anyone ever have this happen to them? If so, how did you handle "walking the parks"?

 

[SteinsLaFemme]

You can always rent a wheelchair (manual or electric). You can even get it delivered to your hotel room. Check out the disabilities board to get recommendations of where to rent from. Last year I broke bones in both of my feet two weeks before my trip. I checked the prices of the rentals and thought they were very reasonable. I ended up cancelling the trip though

 

[Showe]

we just went through this. DH strained his achilles right before leaving for our trip too. doc gave him a brace that he had to wear for everything except sleeping and bathing. he was even able to go swimming. he hated it at first but by the time we left for WDW he was very comfortable. I guess find out if this walking brace is an option for you...otherwise, wheelchair or ECV would be the way to go.
good luck to you.....

 

[MomWith2Cinderellas]

My right knee replacement is officially shot and the past few days I have been a little worried how to handle this at Disney. I am not one for using the wheelchair (I always feel bad that I am taking from someone who really can use it), so I have this special knee brace and I am going to use my cane. If it really gives me problems I will than resort to renting the wheelchair.
I hope your leg is doing better

 

[bubba73]

My Uncle went for the first time last year. He has several health problems including having to walk with a cane as he has a hole in his foot. On the forst and last day that they went to the parks, all of the motorized wheelchairs were already out. My Uncle would not here of my Dad pushing him around so he decided to walk. Yes, it hurt but for his first taste of Disney, he wouldn't have changed anything. He had the time of his life.

 

[Schmeck]

Yes, the wheelchairs and ECVs that you rent at the parks go quickly, so if you know that you want to use one your entire trip, it's better to rent from an offsite source. I second the info to check the disABILITIES forum on this board for more useful info about rentals.

Whatever the OP decides to do, I hope you have a great time!

 

[Tazicket]

I had severe knee problems that started right before our trip to Disney last year (note the stylish brace in my avatar; wound up having surgery a few months later). We got a wheelchair in the parks every day. We never had a problem getting them, but we were at every park when they opened. The wheelchair worked great in the sense that I didn't have to walk on my screwed up knee very much and we had a place to hang the backpack, but was dreadfully uncomfortable. If you wind up having to do this, I would suggest taking a fluffy towel or something to fold up and sit on.
Like Schmeck said, check the disABILITIES board. They are really nice! Also, allearsnet.com has a great section on this kind of thing, too.

Good luck!

 

[minkydog]

If this is your Achilles tendon, you won't be walking much. At least, not if you want to keep it from rupturing. I'd suggest renting an ECV so you can stay off the foot as much as possible. Crutches for in the room.

 

[n2mm]

I am soooo bummed. Countdown is 30 days until we leave for WDW. I somehow injured my leg, I believe while working out. I'm not sure, but I think it might be my achilles tendon. I had an x-ray last night and go to the doctors tomorrow to find out the results. I have a feeling he will send me for an mri, if the x-ray doesn't show anything. I am having pretty hefty pain in my left leg where the achilles tendon is. I am able to walk, but not without pain and at times, it is excruciating, even when I am sitting.

What timing!!!

Anyone ever have this happen to them? If so, how did you handle "walking the parks"?

I feel your pain and hope it's not the same as mine. I had the terrible pains in my left leg for months. Only after an MRI, did they relize I had a ruptured disk pressing on my nerve. My pain was mostly in my lower left leg...sometimes pins and needles in my foot. I had back surgery 2 weeks ago and feel great. While I can't work, my doctor said I could go on my WDW trip in 4 weeks (April 23). While I'm not running any marathon right now, I'm expecting to only be able to eat and relax and ride very few rides. We didn't want to cancel our trip as we are meeting others there. Hopefully I'll do better on my next trip in October.

I wish you luck and hope your injury isn't like mine. It took 4 doctors to figure out what was wrong with me, tons of meds, physical therapy, and steriod injections.

 

[samijam]

I have a very bad right leg due to very bad burn from years ago. I walk a lot for my job as well as on my feet a lot. I have a special brace and my doctor gives me pain meds when I ask ( have them for next trip) I look funny in the brace and extensive walking will cause my leg to swell but the pain is managble. Your Dr should be able to give you something to avoid needing a wheelchair. Just make sure at the end of the day you do what the doctor recomends for care. Good luck !!

 

[Pop Daddy]

By the time I spend a couple days in the parks my whole body is injured

 

[disnut8]

My husband ended up being diagnosed with gout and in a wheelchair two days before our Disney World trip a few years ago. We very calmly got a manual wheelchair from Care Medical Center that was delivered to our offsite hotel before we checked in. We just left it at the front desk when we checked out. I'm 5' nothing and easily pushed him around for the entire weekend.

Two weekends ago it was my father. He had double knee replacement surgery a few years ago and will NOT agree that he needs some assistance. I finally insisted. He rented a manual chair at Animal Kingdom. Thank goodness because I would have been beside myself. Again, painless process and my husband (now "recovered") did the pushing.

Getting a wheelchair is the way to go. Even if you can hobble, here's my take on the situation from a wife and a daughter in two different events. Don't think about yourself. It's so painful for a family member to see you attempting to walk and hurting. I about cried seeing my dad getting out of his wheelchair and going towards the bathroom. If you need the thing, GET ONE!

And you don't get that many perks with a wheelchair anyway. In fact, in some of the attractions, you get worse seats. But it's worth it. Trust me, get the wheelchair.

 

[Alice Sr.]

I am soooo bummed. Countdown is 30 days until we leave for WDW. I somehow injured my leg, I believe while working out. I'm not sure, but I think it might be my achilles tendon. I had an x-ray last night and go to the doctors tomorrow to find out the results. I have a feeling he will send me for an mri, if the x-ray doesn't show anything. I am having pretty hefty pain in my left leg where the achilles tendon is. I am able to walk, but not without pain and at times, it is excruciating, even when I am sitting.

What timing!!!

Anyone ever have this happen to them? If so, how did you handle "walking the parks"?

My DD sprained her's a couple of weeks ago, she finally went to the Dr last week and he took x-rays, she has to go back in 2 weeks for more (not sure why). Anyway there is noway she could walk around WDW in her current condition and we are approaching 3 weeks since it orginally happened.
I'm pretty sure you are going to have someone pushing you around at least part of the time. Sorry, I hope you have a good time anyway.

 

[Grumpy23]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice and comments on my post from a couple of weeks ago. I did strain my achilles tendon, but thank goodness it wasn't a bad one. My doc had me do the one week complete rest off of it, then pt for a week and the next couple of weeks he wants me to stretch it daily and walk so that it is ready for my upcoming trip.

Again, just wanted to say thank you to everyone for taking the time to respond!