FINALLY...GOOD NEWS...& ? about afo's

[lilac7700]

Woooo! It is very unusual to take Paige to the dr adn not have it be a drastic visit it seems. I was sooooo worried about this appt for her hip. The dr said he wants to just watch how she grows into her hip, so we'll be revisiting him every 4-6 months and repeating x rays. He said hers isnt severe enough to do anything at this point but watch it. Yay!!!!!
He also confused me a little bit though. Her afos were made through a different ortho. This dr said NOT to have her wear them all the time. That she needs to build up the muscles and if shes wearing the afo's, they are doing all the work for her muscles. Her therapist is adamant that she wears them all the time (when awake). What have you guys been told????

[langansmom]

Glad the appoinment went well!

We use Langan's AFOs at school during the day but let her go barefoot in the evenings and around the house on weekends. I think it depends on how her feet are when she is out of the AFOs. When Langan's ankles were too weak to bear weight properly without her AFOs, we kept them on her if she was going to stand at all. It helped build them up so that now she doesn't need to wear them all the time.

Hope this helps.

(((hugs)))

[just laurie]

At first Abby wore her DAFOs most of the time she was up and about. Gradually we reduced her DAFO time so her muscles would not get totally dependent on them and atrophy. Think of how your muscles were after having a cast removed if you've ever broken a bone. That was our provider's theory and it seems to have worked as now she is AFO-less!