Re: Braces & foot size concerns

[Guest guest]

Thanks to Corina and regarding the foot braces to be used by my

dr in the Netherlands. The dr is Dr. Schuppers and it's at the

hospital in Hengelo. We went in for our third casting today and will

have to ask next week about the braces again. He told me over the

phone before I met him that it was the foot abduction brace so I

assumed it was whatever is the 'standard' for the Ponseti Method.

Between taking off the old cast and getting the new one on, we take

our baby to the maternity ward at the hospital to give im a bath. It's

so nice for him to relax in the water. Today I compared his feet and

definitely the club foot is smaller than the non club foot. I knew

this was expected but it still freaked me out a bit. I'm even more

worried about the length of his legs being different. Is this

something I should be freaking out over or is this sort of thing

easily overcome? I presume the feet aren't really a problem because

you buy different sized shoes. I'm sure it's understandable to you all

but it's easy to get overwhelmed seeing your little one in a cast and

worrying about what may have to deal with down the road :-(.

Joyce

(Dylan: born April 14, 2006 RCF)

>

> Hi Joyce,

>

> The brace shown on the link for the German company posted, looks

similar to the Markell shoes (www.markellshoe.com), the principle of

the P/M shoes is similar (www.mdortopaedics.com). What I swa on the

Duthc website (www.klompvoet.nl under uitgaven, latest nieuwsbrief) is

something that looks totally different. People on this list may be

familiar with it? It looks like a plastic knee-high boot with a soft

material on the inside and four Velcro straps. I do not see a bar.

> Maybe you can ask your doctor for a picture or example of the brace

he has in mind?

>

> Corina

[Guest guest]

Hi Joyce,

If your doctor said he'd use a foot abduction brace

then I'm pretty sure it'll be the right kind of brace.

Otherwise I'm sure we can get one to you somehow.

My son also has unilateral clubfoot and to begin with

his clubfoot seemed quite a bit smaller, but after a

while the feet seemed to even out more, and now

there's about 1/2 size difference between them (8 1/2

and 9 in UK children's sizes). I only buy him one

pair of shoes though. Some people have a bigger

size difference though, but I think the leg length is

usually the same.

I found this on Dr Ponseti's website regarding this

subject:

" In all the patients with unilateral clubfoot, the

normal foot was slightly longer (mean 1.3 cm) and

wider (mean 0.4 cm) than the clubfoot. The limb

lengths, on the other hand, were the same, but the

circumference of the leg on the normal side was

greater (mean 2.3 cm). "

That reminds me, his calf is slightly thinner as well

but you can only tell when you're really looking for

it. It doesn't seem to make any difference to his leg

strengths though, he jumps around even better than his

twin.

The whole thing really hasn't slowed him down one bit,

and I have a direct comparison in his twin with normal

feet. They both reached all their milestones (like

rolling over, sitting up, crawling, standing, walking)

within a week of each other. You really can't tell

the difference between them, they're running around

exactly the same.

And Alister doesn't mind the brace either, it simply

comes on and off with his pyjamas and that's that. In

fact when I mentioned to him the other day that he

won't have to wear the shoes any more once he's a bit

older, he actually started crying saying that he

wanted to keep them. So I said he could keep them for

longer if he wanted to and he was happy again, bless

him.

Anyway, I hope this put your mind at rest a little.

All the best,

with (3.5y)

and Alister (3.5y, right CF, Ponseti method, UK)

--- joycesinil wrote:

> Thanks to Corina and regarding the foot

> braces to be used by my

> dr in the Netherlands. The dr is Dr. Schuppers and

> it's at the

> hospital in Hengelo. We went in for our third

> casting today and will

> have to ask next week about the braces again. He

> told me over the

> phone before I met him that it was the foot

> abduction brace so I

> assumed it was whatever is the 'standard' for the

> Ponseti Method.

>

> Between taking off the old cast and getting the new

> one on, we take

> our baby to the maternity ward at the hospital to

> give im a bath. It's

> so nice for him to relax in the water. Today I

> compared his feet and

> definitely the club foot is smaller than the non

> club foot. I knew

> this was expected but it still freaked me out a bit.

> I'm even more

> worried about the length of his legs being

> different. Is this

> something I should be freaking out over or is this

> sort of thing

> easily overcome? I presume the feet aren't really a

> problem because

> you buy different sized shoes. I'm sure it's

> understandable to you all

> but it's easy to get overwhelmed seeing your little

> one in a cast and

> worrying about what may have to deal with down the

> road :-(.

>

> Joyce

> (Dylan: born April 14, 2006 RCF)

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