Reacquiring an Old Skill

For as long as I can remember I have been able to tie my shoes. That is, until I broke my hip.

As a child I was fascinated with knots and bows. I can remember entertaining my mother’s bridge club by showing them how I could tie a ribbon around one wrist with the other hand. Tying my shoes was simply something I took for granted.

I was in such a quandary as to what to do when I realized I couldn’t reach my foot after my fall and surgery. All my favorite shoes had ties.

Socks were never a problem. I came home from the hospital with this device for putting on one’s sock. A clever invention that works every time.



And putting on my shoes was not a problem after I ordered a 25” shoe horn.



But tying the laces on the right shoe was definitely a problem. For a few days I asked my husband to do it every time I put it on. Now that was demeaning.

Then I came up with a novel approach that allowed me to slip on a tie shoe and not have the laces loosen. It worked just fine for the past 6 weeks. You can see this in the first photo.

Just yesterday at PT, I asked Christina when she thought I might be able to tie my shoe. Her response, “Let’s try it.” She showed my how to reach from the inside of my right leg so as not to let my knee drop in. I slowly extended to the limits of my range of motion. And miraculously both hands could now reach the laces.



The bow is off center. But it doesn’t matter. I have once again mastered the basic art of shoe tying. I will never again take it for granted!