Tuesday, May 4, 2010

A New Brace

About a month ago we finally got a new brace for Bennett's right leg. It was the same style AFO, just bigger. This time we were given the option of adding a decal - there was very little to choose from - hence the Toronto Maple Leafs emblem. Many would argue that we would have been better off choosing nothing at all while others would suggest that making a child wear anything associated with such a dreadful hockey team is a form of child cruelty.


About a day after he started wearing the brace, he started limping - really bad. It looked like he could barely put weight on his leg and then he would start dragging it. I didn't think it was the brace as he had only started wearing it and his limp was just as bad without it. We gave him warm baths and did some extra stretches. It got a bit better and then a bit worse. He didn't seem to be in pain though and there were no marks on his foot or leg. He also seemed to be off balance and was falling quite a bit more than usual. It was really upsetting to watch him walk like that when he's been doing so well. We continued with the brace for periods of time throughout the day and added new shoes. After about two weeks he started to get back to normal. To this day, none of us are sure what the problem was. Perhaps a growth spurt? I'm just glad he's better. Now as summer approaches we'll have to deal with the stares and snickers we get from people that notice the Toronto Maple Leafs emblem on his brace!


4 comments:

Popcorn House said...

I really notice a difference with Sam when he has a growth spurt. You are right it takes about 2 weeks and then he is back to normal. We do the same lots of stretching. I notice his hand also gets tighter too.

Glad he is all better!!!

Barbara said...

Suzanne - I actually thought of you when the limping was happening with Bennett. I remember one of your blog posts where you mentioned that you saw a difference in tightness with Sammy when he was growing. It's the only explanation I can think of.

Anonymous said...

You mean that is not a brand of syrup?

Glad he did not have a skin issue with the new brace. Look at the size difference between the two!

Kiera said...

We recently saw the same thing with Little Dude. He was limping so bad I thought that he had broken something. I almost had him in the car to urgent care, but Drew calmed me down. We did lots of stretching & same thing where it passed relatively quickly. This is another time where I feel so lucky to have "found" all of you Moms. It is nice to have the 3 boys all of similar ages to see what things happen about the same time. I hope that you do not mind, but I called you out in the latest blog post I did. Drew was so grateful for your comment that Bennett did not get sedated when he had botox. We ended up requesting the topical cream & it made such a difference for this round of botox. Little Dude did so much better when we did not have to sedate him. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

I am glad to hear that Bennett is no longer limping. Congrats on the new brace!