Descriptor for walking

MyHappy256

Is the descriptor for walking if you can walk normally for that amount of distance or if you can hobble there in pain for that amount of distance?

OverlyAnxious

If you can reliably hobble that distance with low levels of pain then that's acceptable.

Most people get some pain as they age, so PIP need to understand your personal pain levels for this descriptor.

Zipz

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/138260/descriptor-for-walking

Also can you walk the distance safely or are you liable to fall?

Can you cover the distance in a timely fashion or does it take you much longer than the norm? Hobbling suggests slowness.

Could you walk the distance again ( repeatedly) the same day or would this exhaust you or leave you in pain.

Do you walk the distance reliably or can you only do it sometimes?

OverlyAnxious

I would slightly disagree with the repeated part for this descriptor. If a person could repeatedly and reliably walk 20 metres several times on the same day, then surely they'd be able to walk 50 or even 200 metres overall.

I would expect the person to be at least slightly tired or achy or similar by the end of the distance stated, with a compounding effect the more times they attempt it. Therefore not reliably able to repeat it endlessly on the same day.

MyHappy256

I have peripheral neuropathy in both feet and legs, medication keeps making them swollen, gout in my toes, and peripheral oedema in my feet, though not as much fluid anymore, skin is tight and I am sensitive to pressure, socks or shoes make the pain worse.

I was terminally ill 2022, previously qualified under special rules for PIP, but got an emergency liver transplant, immuno suppression medication makes me confused, clumsy and I fall on a regular basis.

The surgery from the transplant cut into the nerves on the right side of my abdomen and some of my other organs are damaged, so still have lot of pain all over my abdomen.

I am on mild pain killers which don't really do much, so still in a lot of pain.

Walking I can sort of manage, though it is a struggle, breathless, in loads of pain and I fall a lot, not good balance and I can't handle uneven ground, steps etc. sometimes I manage to do 20-50 metres, but it's painful, other times I can't get up out of my hospital bed.

So when I was filling in the form I wasn't sure whether I should say I can walk 20-50 metres, or varies, or cannot walk because I spend 90% of the time after walking in my hospital bed,.

OverlyAnxious

From what you've written there, I would suggest the less than 20 metres descriptor fits best (1E).

For reference, steps and uneven ground aren't taken into account for PIP. They're also not particularly interested in balance. (I suffer from poor balance and vertigo myself - can't score any points for the moving around part).