Amputees reveal how they travel, to what brings the pack to the misery of TSA checks

Having a prosthetic limb makes traveling a little trickier, as these amputees reveal.

The prosthetic wearers speak out on TikTok and explain some of their travel issues and tricks for a more comfortable vacation.

In one clip the 23-year-old Canadian Paralympic track and field star Marissa Papaconstantinouwho was born without her right foot reveals how she packed up for a tour of Europe.

She explains that she always keeps her leg on her and that she has “become good at playing Tetris” as arranging her bag is quite a puzzle, with a walking knife, her everyday prosthetic and her lifting leg to get into to fit a tight space.

To avoid damaging her legs, she says she makes sure to pack a lot of clothes.

‘Traveling light is absolutely not an option for me’, the athlete muses.

Joe Beckwithwho decided to have her foot amputated after years of pain from a riding injury in her youth, also reveals to viewers what she needs to pack for a big trip.

“Number one is kind of obvious, you know, bring my leg,” she jokes.

Second on her packing list is a silicone-based “leg lube.”

To explain the importance of this item, she says, “This is the stuff that my [prosthetic] don’t hurt my skin so much.’

Equally important to Jo while she’s out and about is a shoehorn. She explains: ‘It is sometimes amazingly difficult to put on shoes over a prosthetic foot and if I forget to do this I am a bit [out of luck].’

Jo’s other travel essentials include duck tape, because “we never know what’s going to happen,” extra leg socks because “this is what stuffs my leg between my skin and my socket,” and medications.

The social media star, who has more than 744,000 followers on TikTok, says the “funniest thing about traveling as an amputee is that I can’t just get a lot of these things from a pharmacy.”

For example, Jo reveals that her leg lube is only available “by appointment only from prosthetists” and so she needs to “think ahead or I’m kind of screwed.”

In another TikTokJo reveals some of the difficult things about flying while wearing a prosthesis.

She informs viewers that when she flies, “being on a plane for hours can cause a lot of pressure” and that the changes in plane pressure can cause “spikes in phantom pain.”

This then leads to ‘occasionally a lot of swelling and just plain discomfort’.

In an effort to reduce any swelling, Jo removes her prosthesis and massages her thigh once she’s off the plane and waiting for another flight.

As she demonstrates some of her massage techniques, she says, “So I’m trying to hopefully stimulate the nerve area.” [my upper leg] to calm down a bit.

“If I have time I could lift it and just hold it off for a while before the next flights and I have to put it off [the prosthetic] on again.

“So I add some padding, get the suction right, and get my leg reattached to get 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 few extra steps, a few extra thoughts and sometimes Advil!”

Rachel Hanlerwho lost her leg in a car accident in 2012, made a TikTok outlining her three travel hacks as an amputee.

First, she says she always takes crutches with her when she travels.

This is because she takes off her prosthesis at night and “I don’t want to have to jump to the bathroom.” I’m too old for that!’

Second, she always asks for hotel bathrooms with a seat in the shower, because “I don’t want to stand on one leg and get really hurt when I’m washing… hand held shower heads are also really, really useful!”

Third, Rachel usually takes an extra foot or leg with her when she travels, just in case one goes missing. These, she says, are usually “marked by TSA,” and she has to explain what the items are.

Revealing similar nightmares with TSA is Emily Fogle, who lost her leg as a teenager to a rare form of bone cancer. She has had a prosthesis for six years.

An avid traveler, she says she’s had a number of “interesting encounters 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 percent of the time TSA is fine, explaining that they pet her, wipe her hands, and her prosthetic foot, and then she’s “good to go.”

But she’s had some not-so-pleasant experiences. One of her worst TSA encounters happened at North Carolina’s Charlotte Douglas Airport.

Emily claims that this airport is “by far the worst when it comes to prosthetics,” since “it’s like none of those TSA agents have seen a prosthetic leg before in their lives.”

On one occasion, she went through the scanner and her hands and prosthesis were wiped with nothing marked. She thought she was ready to go, but they unexpectedly took her to a back room where she was told to take off her pants.

She said, recalling the incident, “I’m trying to be unproblematic so I’m like I drop my pants and I’m sitting there in my thong and they wipe my whole leg again and check my bikini line.

“I’m literally in a thong like I can hide 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 take me into a back room and literally make me sit half naked in front of them.”

Like the ladies Alex Parra — who had his leg amputated due to stage two bone cancer — says he never travels without his leg on.

He explains in a TikTok that one option as an amputee is to put your prosthesis in your checked suitcase, but then there is a risk that it will be lost.

As he packs his bag for a trip to Los Angeles, he says, “Imagine an airport losing this suitcase, not only losing all the stuff in your suitcase, but also losing your leg… I’ve already lost one, I don’t want to lose another one.’

To avoid losing his leg, he puts it in 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 never leaves my side.”