McArdle's rules of the road

When walking with people who do not have McArdle Disease it is very easy for us to damage ourselves as we do not want to hold people back, make a fuss, etc. This especially applies if the other people do not know about our McArdle's. Even though we know we have to say something, we sub-consciously suppress that and do too much, go those few yards too far before stopping. The result is a painful muscle cramp which can last for hours or days. If it is severe it can make us feel very unwell and even land us in hospital.

All the walkers in our group need to protect themselves from possible muscle damage. Apart from good techniques, the key to this is a set of rules we need to stick to.

• Always walk at the pace of the slowest person.
• If someone else stops, just carry on slowly, unless...
• If you are the last person, then stop with other person.
• Never mention the stop, just talk about something else.
• The people in front should watch out for those behind and slow down, so as not to put pressure on them to keep up.
• If the group has spread out more than 150 yards or so, call out for all to stop.
• Usually 30 seconds rest is enough for the pain to dissipate. However, if the person does not wish to continue after that, the group will take a 5 minute break.
• We will anyway stop frequently for short breaks.
• We will have pick up points wherever we can.
• If anyone needs to, we will all abandon the day's walk without complaint.
• The leader's decision is final!

The more that those of us with McArdle's walk the more we get to understand our muscles, to know the signs, to know what we can do and can't do, to know how to avoid problems. By walking as a group we will similarly learn about the group dynamics and will be able to pass these lessons on to others.