Limb-ering up! Amputees including a Paralympic track star reveal what it’s like to travel with a prosthetic leg – from the essentials they pack to the woes of TSA
- Canadian Paralympic star Marissa Papaconstantinou says packing is like Tetris
- Jo Beckwith says some of her top travel items include a shoe horn and duck tape
- Alex Parra says he always travels with his leg on him as hand luggage
When you’ve got a prosthetic limb, travel becomes slightly trickier as these amputees reveal.
Speaking out on TikTok, the prosthetic wearers explain some of their travel woes and tricks for a more comfortable vacation.
In one clip 23-year-old Canadian Paralympic track star Marissa Papaconstantinou, who was born without her right foot, reveals how she packed for a tour across Europe.
She explains that she always keeps her leg on her and she has become ‘good at playing Tetris’ as arranging her bag is quite a puzzle, with a running blade, her everyday prosthetic and her lifting leg to fit into a tight space.
In one clip, 23-year-old Canadian Paralympic track star Marissa Papaconstantinou, who was born without her right foot, reveals how she packed for going on tour across Europe
Now THAT is some serious Tetris skill 👏🛫 @Marissa Paps #tiktokcanada #traveltiktok #canadacheck
Jo Beckwith, who decided to have her foot amputated after years of pain from a childhood horseback riding injury, also reveals to viewers what she needs to pack ahead of a big trip
In a bid to reduce the discomfort from flying, Jo takes off her prosthetic limb and massages her upper leg once off the plane and waiting for another flight
Travel as an amputee! #travel #prosthetic #funfacts #fyp
So that her legs don’t get damaged, she says she makes sure to pack them with lots of clothes.
‘Traveling light is definitely not an option for me,’ the athlete muses.
Jo Beckwith, who decided to have her foot amputated after years of pain from a childhood horseback riding injury, also reveals to viewers what she needs to pack ahead of a big trip.
‘Number one is kinda obvious, you know, bring my leg,’ she jokes.
In at second place on her packing list is a silicon-based ‘leg lube.’
Explaining this importance of this item, she says: ‘This is the stuff that makes my [prosthetic] leg not hurt my skin as much.’
Equally as important to Jo while she is on-the-go is a shoe horn. She explains: ‘It is amazingly difficult to get shoes on over a prosthetic foot sometimes and if I forget this, I’m kinda [out of luck].’
Jo’s other travel essentials include duck tape, as ‘we never know what’s gonna happen,’ extra leg socks as ‘these are what give my leg padding in-between my actual skin and my socket,’ and medications.
The social media star, who has more than 744,000 followers on TikTok, says that the ‘funniest thing about travelling as an amputee is that a lot of this stuff I can’t just pick up at a pharmacy.’
For example, Jo reveals that her leg lube is only available ‘from prosthetists by appointment only’ and therefore, she has to ‘think ahead otherwise I’m kind of screwed.’
In another TikTok, Jo reveals some of the hard things about flying while wearing a prosthetic limb.
Rachel Handler, who lost her leg in a car accident in 2012, made a TikTok outlining her three travel hacks as an amputee
Revealing similar nightmares with TSA is Emily Fogle, who lost her leg to a rare form of bone cancer and has had a prosthetic for six years
In a TikTok, Emily tells viewers: ‘Those of you with two legs probably don’t understand the horror of going through TSA at the airport with a prosthetic leg’
I should be married to TSA the amount of times they’ve felt me up #tsa #prostheticleg #fyp #airportsecurity
She informs viewers that when she flies, ‘sitting on an airplane for hours can cause a lot of pressure’ and the changes in airplane pressure ‘can cause spikes in phantom pain.’
This then leads to ‘a lot of swelling from time to time and just discomfort.’
In a bid to reduce any swelling, Jo takes off her prosthetic limb and massages her upper leg once off the plane and waiting for another flight.
While demonstrating some of her massaging techniques, she says: ‘So I try to stimulate the nerve area to hopefully get [my upper leg] to calm down a little bit.
‘If I have time, I might elevate it and just keep it off for a little while before the next flights happens and I’ve got to put [the prosthetic] back on.
‘So I add some padding, get the suction right and get my leg reattached to head off to my next flight.’
Despite some discomfort, Jo tells viewers that traveling and flying as an amputee isn’t so bad and ‘it just takes a couple extra steps, a couple extra thoughts and sometimes Advil!’
Rachel Handler, who lost her leg in a car accident in 2012, made a TikTok outlining her three travel hacks as an amputee.
Firstly, she says she always takes crutches when she travels.
This is because at night, she takes off her prosthetic and ‘I don’t want to have to hop to the bathroom. I’m too old for that!’
Secondly, she always requests hotel bathrooms with a chair in the shower because ‘I don’t want to stand up on one leg and really hurt myself when I’m shampooing… also handheld shower heads are really, really useful!’
Thirdly, Rachel usually packs an extra foot or leg with her whenever she travels in case one goes missing. These, she says, usually get ‘flagged by TSA,’ and she has to explain what the items are.
Like the ladies Alex Parra – who had his leg amputated as a result of stage-two bone cancer – says he never travels without his leg on him
i cant lose another
Revealing similar nightmares with TSA is Emily Fogle, who lost her leg to a rare form of bone cancer as a teenager. She has had a prosthetic for six years.
As an avid traveler, she says she has had some ‘interesting run ins with TSA’ over the years.
In a TikTok, she tells viewers: ‘Those of you with two legs probably don’t understand the horror of going through TSA at the airport with a prosthetic leg.’
She says 80 per cent of the time TSA is fine, explaining they pat her down, swab her hands and her prosthetic foot, and then she’s ‘good to go.’
But she has had a couple of not so pleasant experiences. One of her worst TSA encounters happened at Charlotte Douglas Airport in North Carolina.
Emily claims this airport is ‘by far the worst when it comes to prosthetics’ as ‘it’s like none of those TSA agents have seen a prosthetic leg before in their life.’
On one occasion, she went through the scanner, and had her hands and prosthetic swabbed with nothing flagged. She thought she was good to go, but they unexpectedly took her into a back room where she was told to take her pants off.
She said, recalling the incident: ‘I’m trying to be unproblematic, so I’m like dropping my pants and I’m sitting there in my thong and they’re swabbing my whole leg again and checking my bikini area.
‘I’m literally in a thong like what can I be hiding up there… Finally they let me go.
‘That situation just stands out because nothing went wrong with the initial screening process so I don’t know why they felt the need to bring me into a back room and literally have me sit half naked for them.’
Like the ladies Alex Parra – who had his leg amputated as a result of stage-two bone cancer – says he never travels without his leg on him.
He explains in a TikTok that one option as an amputee is to put your prosthetic into your checked suitcase, but then there is risk of it potentially getting lost.
While packing his bag ahead of a trip to Los Angeles he says: ‘Imagine if an airport lost this suitcase, not only are they losing all the stuff in your suitcase but they’re losing your leg… I’ve already lost one, I don’t wanna lose another one.’
To avoid any chances of losing his leg he puts into a separate bag that he can take on the plane as hand luggage.
He concludes: ‘I don’t trust anyone with my prosthetic thing… It doesn’t leave my side.’
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