I thought I would have to teach my daughter about the world; turns out I have to teach the world about her. They see a girl who doesn't speak,
I see a miracle who doesn't need words.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Weight Therapy

I was cleaning up yesterday and I had to chuckle at the 'grave yard' of casts that's been building up!
 
Now that Alex is back at school we are finished with the casts....whoo hoo!  I know she's happy!!  However, now that she's not in the casts it's  super important to do therapy and exercises at home to keep her legs stretched and not regress.  I've mentioned a few times that we bought a universal cage for Alex's room so that we can do some of the same therapies that they do in her intensive physical therapy sessions at home.  I'm embarrassed to say though that it became a really expensive laundry spot that housed all of Alex's clean laundry!
 
 
But not any more!!! Getting her hooked up for all of the exercises took two people so it was very challenging finding the right times to do exercises with her.  BUT, Shannon showed us a few exercises that we can do with her that only require one person, much to Alex's dismay!   As soon as I start putting the boots on her she knows she's in for it!
 
 
I call it her weight therapy.  Basically all we do is lay her on her stomach and attach weights to boots which forces her legs to stretch....easy peasy!


And the longer she tolerates it, the more weight I add.  These weights are in kilograms so in that picture she has three pounds of weight on each foot.  I've gotten her up to six pounds so far - she definitely lets me know when she's reached the point she can't take it anymore. For the most part as long as we keep her entertained, she tolerates it pretty well - and Zach is usually there to help entertain her and make her laugh.  He's so good to her. 


 

The second I took my hand off her ankles she turned a bit to try and get out of the stretch, but look how straight those legs are!

NOT to be compared to how they look once the weights are removed.  She's such a stinker.

 
We start intensive therapy next week so I'm anxious to see what her leg measurements are and how she looks after her three weeks of boot camp with Shannon!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I feel honored to know how dedicated you are in spite of so many trials ya'll must go through. Much love to all, Linda