Yesterday I was on my way to the dentist to have a tooth out and didn’t notice there were 2 steps to go down from the room where I do yoga because I was lost in thought about the tooth extraction and whether or not I would have a local anaesthetic to have the tooth out when I suddenly found myself sprawled on the floor with several people asking me whether I wanted rescue remedy, comfrey or report the accident in the accident book (I was in a public building).

I said I was fine and when the  acute pain of a sudden fall wore off I hobbled down the road to the dentist to have my tooth out. I had a local anaesthetic which was great, I didn’t feel anything wxcept for my painful ankle. By the time I got home I had a hugely swollen ankle and wondered what to do to treat the sprained ankle. My husband knew what to do – he applied a crepe bandage and found me a crutch and even explained how to use it.

You have to hold the crutch with the arm on the opposite side to the injured ankle. Then walk like ‘Jake the peg with his extra leg’ bad leg forward at the same time as crutch forward. Good leg forward and crutch and bad leg back. Brilliant . I’ve noticed how lots of people don’t seem to get how to use the crutch!

Of course there are all sorts of things that can act as crutches – something which can offer a bit of help during a difficult time for example. The important thing to remember is a crutch is not for always, it’s a way of enabling you to get through a difficult patch.

My book ‘Get ready for retirement- how to have a life after work‘ can do that too because many people find the transition into retirement needs the support of a crutch for a while until you get used to the change of identity and new lifestyle.