Kara's feet
After 5 weeks of casting, Kara is stopping. I didn't say "done" or "finished," I said "stopping." The casts enabled her to get to a neutral position, which is nothing short of a miracle. This goal is something I really didn't think we could reach without surgery. I am SO grateful for casting and for the physical therapists who worked with us every week.
Getting past neutral is the goal, but since Kara's ankle bones (in only one foot) are preventing the feet from being stretched further, we have to stop the casts. All of the bones that come down to the ankle joint are very...movable (for lack of a better word). If you think about it, they were fine for the first several years of her life and moved to where they are now because of tip toes. So, we are going to work (with physical therapy) to move them to where they need to go.
This is just the first week, but on top of Kara's other exercises, we were given the following homework:
* Kara lays on her back, I hold her leg bone down with one hand and lift her heel up with my other hand. I am literally moving her foot up into that joint to make more room. Ga-ross! Bones and joints gross me out more than puke, but here I am. Doing joint modifications.
* Kara lays on her back, I hold her foot up in place (pushing it forward, closing in that ankle joint) with one hand and pull her heel down with the other.
* Kara lays on her back, I work to manipulate the fibula. It's a long skinny bone that runs along the outside of her leg. I use the bone in my palm to massage it backward at the bottom and the top. Open ankle, open.
* Kara stands in front of me, flat footed, and brings one knee forward at a time. We want them to come over her toes. Her right foot can do it, but that poor left one can't quite make it. We do 15, each.
* Kara sits on an exercise ball with her feet flat. She slowly rolls forward as far as she can, then slowly rolls backward. We do this for about 5 minutes.
* Kara is working on the yoga Warrior pose. This is difficult and made her cry today. We will get there.
We do those 3 times a day.
Her normal exercises work her bottom, abs, hamstrings, hips - those are twice a day.
It is A LOT and until recently, Kara has had a great attitude about them. She could just be having a bad day.
So, now we are done casting, earlier than I thought we would be, and we are waiting on her braces to come in, which she will wear for about 6 months.
Please pray Kara's attitude stays positive and she is healed completely!
Getting past neutral is the goal, but since Kara's ankle bones (in only one foot) are preventing the feet from being stretched further, we have to stop the casts. All of the bones that come down to the ankle joint are very...movable (for lack of a better word). If you think about it, they were fine for the first several years of her life and moved to where they are now because of tip toes. So, we are going to work (with physical therapy) to move them to where they need to go.
This is just the first week, but on top of Kara's other exercises, we were given the following homework:
* Kara lays on her back, I hold her leg bone down with one hand and lift her heel up with my other hand. I am literally moving her foot up into that joint to make more room. Ga-ross! Bones and joints gross me out more than puke, but here I am. Doing joint modifications.
* Kara lays on her back, I hold her foot up in place (pushing it forward, closing in that ankle joint) with one hand and pull her heel down with the other.
* Kara lays on her back, I work to manipulate the fibula. It's a long skinny bone that runs along the outside of her leg. I use the bone in my palm to massage it backward at the bottom and the top. Open ankle, open.
* Kara stands in front of me, flat footed, and brings one knee forward at a time. We want them to come over her toes. Her right foot can do it, but that poor left one can't quite make it. We do 15, each.
* Kara sits on an exercise ball with her feet flat. She slowly rolls forward as far as she can, then slowly rolls backward. We do this for about 5 minutes.
* Kara is working on the yoga Warrior pose. This is difficult and made her cry today. We will get there.
We do those 3 times a day.
Her normal exercises work her bottom, abs, hamstrings, hips - those are twice a day.
It is A LOT and until recently, Kara has had a great attitude about them. She could just be having a bad day.
So, now we are done casting, earlier than I thought we would be, and we are waiting on her braces to come in, which she will wear for about 6 months.
Please pray Kara's attitude stays positive and she is healed completely!
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