In [1] an earlier post, I discussed the problem of my leg clicking. Although I’ve more or less solved the problem of my socket being a bit tight, I haven’t made any headway with the clicking — which is now beginning to drive me a little batty.

We’re used to receiving sensory feedback when we walk, but it’s mostly physical and phenomenological. We feel our legs swing through the air, our feet rollover, our arms swing at our sides, our trunks gently sway side to side and roll up and down. We feel ourselves walk. But I don’t usually hear myself walk, and I find it really distracting.

I spent an evening diagnosing the clicking and figured out it’s the lock. I figured it had to be either the lock or the foot because they’re the only two components with moving parts. I started walking around my living room and quietly listened. I could hear the leg click when when I stepped down on it, at heel strike, so I removed the foot shell and the spectra sock inside the foot and tried walking around on just the carbon fiber. There’s no way the foot could have been clicking at that point, but the leg was still clicking, so it must be the lock.

I tried using an Allen wrench to tighten the pin in my silicone liner (which was indeed loose) and that improved things: the clicking is quieter, but still there. So I called the shop and made an appointment for next Wednesday. I’ll see Bill, another prosthetist there, about the clicking and getting my foot dorsiflexed a little, and pick up a stump shrinker.