High on Walking: Conquering Everyday Life

Abstract

The aim of this study is to discuss the meaning of walking impairment among people who have previously been able to walk on their own. The study is based on findings from three different life situations: older people recovering after admission in intermediate care, people who have lost a leg, and people who live with Parkinson's disease. The analysis of the data is inspired by Paul Ricoeur's philosophy of interpretation. Four themes were identified: (a) I feel high in two ways; (b) Walking has to be automatic; (c) Every Monday, I walk with the girls in the park; and (d) I dream of walking along the street without sticks and things like that. The findings demonstrate that inability to walk profoundly affected the participants' lives. Other problems seemed small by comparison because walking impairment was at the same time experienced as a concrete physical limit and an existential deficit.

Mobility—A Bridge to Sense of Coherence in Everyday Life: Older Patients’ Experiences of Participation in an Exercise Program During the First 3 Weeks After Hip Fracture Surgery

“…Mobility in the form of walking is claimed to have a hidden importance (Martinsen et al, 2018), andBourret et al (2002) found mobility to be so much more than just movement from one point to another for older people, like our participants who painted mobility as an existential factor.…”

“…Langford et al (2018) also found walking to be the most frequent mentioned kind of activity among a group of older adults after suffering a hip fracture. To understand the existential meaning of walking, we can turn to the individuals' responses to the loss of this ability-caused in this study by a hip fracture-because the ability to walk is seldom reflected upon until walking difficulties occur (Martinsen et al, 2018). Norlyk et al (2013) linked the loss of the ability to walk to a limitation of the person's action space and a loss of freedom (Norlyk et al, 2013), and these losses seem to lie behind our participants' experiences and might have been reasons for their feelings of alienation and diminished self-image.…”

“…Functional mobility refers to individuals’ ability to move around safely and effectively in their environment; perform basic ambulation; walk for leisure; perform everyday tasks; and participate in work, leisure, and exercise activities (Satariano et al, 2012) and the nature of walking is underlined as an embodied, prereflective and natural act (Martinsen et al, 2018).…”