To be terrified of the ice?

[MissLucyEyelesbarrow]

Is this just me? Everywhere I look, people are marching confidently around on the ice. Meanwhile, I have just binned off meeting a friend for coffee because I am too scared to walk a couple of hundred metres on icy pavements. I haven't got osteoporosis or any particular reason to be frightened of slipping - I just am. (To avoid drip-feeding, I do have a disability that affects one leg, but I don't think this is the reason - I would be scared anyway.)

What makes it even more pathetic, is that I grew up partly in a country with much more snow, and go back there regularly. It's different there though - in the middle of winter, the snow & ice are deep and packed, so you can wear walking spikes on your boots, and I am fine there. Also, they are much better at clearing pavements whereas, in the UK, we only seem to care about cars slipping, not pedestrians.

Does anyone have tips for getting my head around this? I feel really pathetic.

I'm very uneasy about icy pavements after slipping on black ice and breaking my wrist 12 years ago. I don't want to risk damaging the knee that was replaced just over a year ago, either, plus I have Meniere's, so my balance is iffy at the best of times.

I went out yesterday and got a cab from my front door. Too treacherous to walk to bus stop around the corner. Cab more expensive than bus which affects what i spend elsewhere.

Yout are definitely not alone. I am exactly the same and have always hated ice. The packed ice we have at the moment is the absolute worst and I haven't left the house for the last few days because of it.

I did have a bad fall a few years ago and seriously fractured my right arm. I still have issues with it six years on and will be having another x-ray in early January. That fall wasn't caused by ice, but it heightened my fear of falling and I have no wish to repeat the experience on ice.

I think I am going to order myself some new Yaktrax now, as I can't find the ones I used to have when I had my dogs. They were great.

I'm the same as you. Since a bad fall on ice 20 years ago resulted In a bad knee, I now panick whenever I see the slightest ice. The fear is real. I wear walking boots, and am amazed at others in trainers! When it's snowing, I have grippers that I put over my boots. They have silver flat springs on them, and fantastic on snow. I got them from Go Outdoors.

It totally depends on my footwear. My walking boots with thick treads and solid soles are fine on stones and gravel and mud but have no grip at all on smooth slippery surfaces like ice or wet grass. But I also have a pair of rubber soled boots that grip like Spiderman on icy surfaces so I have been stomping merrily in town and round the park. The only thing that scares me now is icy muddy slush - I have no footwear that will manage that without me landing flat on my backside.

i went out to collect my son at 10pm last Friday, it had been raining here in afternoon and I stupidly thought the pavements were wet. Stepped onto them and ended up on my back . I nearly missed my DS train pickup as it took me a while to gather myself togther and get off the ground. I’m 60. I fall really easily - have had fractured metatarsals, ankle, elbow within last 7 years. I’ve always been like this - very clumsy and can fall down very easily. God knows why

so, when we got back from station after picking DS up, I took my boots off in the car . I walked across the pavement in my bare socks. It was so much easier - the socks sort of froze to ground as I walked. Mind I hung on to DS as well 🤣🤷🏼‍♀️

I read once about people putting old socks over shoes - so it defiantly works.

DOnt recommend walking far in bar feet and asks though - only walked down drive and toes were freezing 🤣🤦‍♀️

Yes, when I was growing up in a snowy area, we were taught you lean slightly forward and keep your legs under your torso. This does help on the flat or going uphill, but is useless when downhill, I find.

I have no balance function owing to ear problems and fall very easily. Wearing my hiking boots on ice - quite by chance - was a revelation. I don't slip at all. Get good quality ones, they are worth every penny. Mine are Lowa.

I'm also very nervous in the type of ice found in English winters - in my case osteoarthritis and a degree of osteoporosis.

I use extra grippy hiking boots as walking boots in this weather and also have yaktrax type grippers (different brand, bought in Sweden) when needed. I'm also a big advocate of walking poles and a backpack.

The properly adjusted backpack leaves my arms completely free, the walking poles help with balance and typically have two types of end point - one spikey, one rubber tipped. In the winter ice I use the spikey ends.

Honestly decent walking poles were transformative for me. I used to do a lot of walking/hiking before I developed osteoarthritis and had to give it up entirely. I can't climb mountains any more but walking poles enabled me to get out and more active again, walking on terrains I had been avoiding as well as being helpful on icy roads.

Seen in Braintree Four joggers running in single file along the middle of the road. Two cars having to go slow behind them flashing their lights.

Yak Trax are amazing for outside but never, I repeat never, think you can quickly nip in to Sainsbury's without removing them first, unless you are comfortable with performing the horizontal splits a few feet into the foyer.

Don't ask me how I know this.

YADNBU I slipped on the ice a few years ago, sprained my wrist and have been scared ever since. A lovely colleague has been picking me up on her way to work in the morning and my long suffering husband has been meeting me from work so I can cling to him on the way home. Apparently I just have to be more confident in my walking. Easier said than done!

I'm terrified of the humiliation of the ice. I have osteoarthritis and can't get up when I'm down. I lie there like an upended turtle looking damned stupid.