DS 16 Months- Walking Problems

[chinchi]

DS was born 10 weeks premature at 29+5. He is now almost 17 months, and Im worried about his development.

He has a small cyst on the right side of his brain which has affected his left hand (although this has almost corrected itself), and his left leg. He has a tendancy to cruise on his tip-toes (both feet), and his left foot goes out to the left slightly when he applies pressure and tries to walk.

His consultant referred him to a physio who suggested that he be fitted for AFOS splints in order to correct the problem. He received the splints last week, ans has not taken well to them at all. He cries when we put them on him, they are affecting his crawling as they make his legs seem to bend inwards when he is on the floor, and the left splint keep coming off of his foot. We were also advised to buy soft trainers for him to wear over them as he would slip without, yet the only thing Ive been able to find for him to wear are slippers as everything else is too heavy for him to be able to lift his legs.

I bought him some shoes today from Clarks that have helped put his right foot flat on the floor, yet he is still on his tip-toes on his left foot, and again, the shoe keeps falling off. The physio has been away for the past week, but I will be speaking to her tomorrow regarding what else to try.

To cut a long story short, I just wondered if anybody has experienced similar problems with children? Its upsetting me seeing him stuggle as he desperately wants to walk, but this muscle inbalance isnt letting him

Bump

Maybe post this in Special Needs too?

FWIW - he WILL cry when you put the splints on. His feet and legs are being corrected in to what is an unfamiliar and uncomfy position. Did you get advice about gently wearing them in (hour or so at a time and build up?)
DO get in touch with physio when she is back. Special footwear (oversplint) trainers or boots can be supplied which are specially designed to go over Splints (as the name suggests!) and they are very cute (and lightweight).
Also the splint should not come off and the heel retaining strap should prevent toe walking (tho you'd be suprised at the number of young houdini's who can get round that!). It may need an extra strap or alteration of the strap position. Physio can check the fit of the AFO and a little tweak here and there can make the world of difference.
Definitely worth getting them checked and make sure you get them checked regularly (every 3 months ish at this age) - even if they don't offer you appointments.
HTH x

i don't have any advise im afraid my ds did have one leg that bent slightly but with walking and time it corrected itself most children until walking for a while quite often start on tip toes this corrects the longer they have been walking and leg strength best you can do is speak to physio again and get second opinion

Hi, I had similar, my son had to wear splints over his knees to keep his legs straight and stand in a box to keep his body upright. He has severe hyponia due to down syndrome. He hated every minute and so did I. We started off with a minute and had to build it up. He cried all the time. I just couldn't do it anymore and as he was nearly 3 we put him in the local physically disabled school part time for intensive physio. He is now nearly 8 still doesn't walk much, can't do stairs, curbs etc. He also didin't stand and walk until nearly 5. Hope this helps.

You could contact this organisation and ask to speak to Belinda O'Gorman. I used to be in charge of the clinical team there and she is a good friend of mine.

Did the physio go through putting the splints on correctly?

IIRC with dd it took her a while to get used to them.

There is a "knack" to putting them on.The physio told me to grasp the foot and turnn it gently inward and position it in the splint so that the heel is right at the back,then do up the first lowest velcroey strap firmly,and then do the upper one.If the foot isn't correctly placed it is easy for them to slip off.WRT trainers I got dd some really light ones from jjb sports,I took her splints in to the shop and the assisstant was lovely.I ended up getting 2 sizes bigger than her feet to accomadate the end of the splints.I got ones with velcro straps rather than laces.I got leather ones so they would naturally stretch a bit.

Hope that makes sense xx