Physio...urgh

[buildingmycorestrength]

My son (8, possible ASD) has been tiptoe walking since 2, and the physio said he is getting tight calves and hamstrings now, and gave him some stretches.

Poor kid was in tears tonight when we tried them for the first time.

I have made no secret of the fact they are not fun and have said we will increase his pocket money for doing them. We have explained that they will help prevent injuries so he can still play his beloved tennis, and talked about how grown up sports people have to do them, etc. We have a chart and he gets to tick them off and I gave him a sticker at the end tonight and really praised him, of course.

I also tried to make sure the stretches were pretty gentle and not actually too much.

Just want some kind words, and any suggestions gratefully received of course. .

Do them after a warm bath if possible this helps the muscles relax. Lower leg massage to relax the area and warm the muscles before gently stretching. Always move slowly into the stretch and hold before gently releasing. Talk to DS about other things to relax him, or let him watch TV to take his mind away from what you are doing. Start by taking the stretch as far as is comfortable and then over the weeks increase it as it becomes more comfortable.

Could you get him to bend forward to touch his toes if that stretches the ankle. Ask him to lower gently into squatting keeping his heels as low as possible.

Bless you, kind sneeze! Those are really helpful tips!

Quite a lot of the stretches he doesn't physically need help with, I just encourage and count down and adjust him if necessary. A couple I do 'for' him.

The Physio said night splints would be the next step, not sure if that is likely to be better or worse, but we agreed to give these a go first.

Bath and massage will definitely be helpful. Thanks so much.

Oh, and we did do them while Daddy read a book out loud, so hopefully that helped.

we always do stretches in the bath as ds2 tolerates them much better & we seem to get a better stretch.
When he comes out of the bath he has to walk up stairs very slowly stretching each foot on the stair as he goes iykwim.

He has ASD and cerebral palsy & his physio is part of his daily routine & he is just accepting of it now & we do try to make them fun, keep it lighthearted if he is upset & tense it will hurt him more as he is tensing anyway so if it gets to this stage then stop & try again later. Maybe little & often is the way to go
DS2 also wears night splints and although we were dreading introducing them to a non sleeping 10 yr old that hates his socks & shoes he actually likes them, he says they feel soft & snuggly & keep his feet warm.

Thank you! A little less awful tonight. There's one particular stretch that seems to be worst so we might have to find a way to ease that one.

Also, thanks for encouragement on splints...I don't think they'd be too bad but nice to know yours liked them!

Is he getting any sensory therapy? My understanding was the tip toe walking, was to give increased sensory input..... So while stretching is great, could they give you advice as to how to meet his sensory needs better, in the hope he does it less?

We are on the list for sensory OT but I think it will be a while .

It was better tonight. He asked for one of the exercises again as he liked it. .