Re: Measuring for bar length (Naomi)

[Guest guest]

Naomi,

Thanks for answering my question.

I'm not sure what the bar is made out of, plastic or a combination

fiberglass/plastic. The bar is a standard length and our physician

here sawed it to the length he wanted. So unfortunately there is no

lengthening it unless we buy a new one and have it sawed off.

Looking at the pictures on this website I have noticed no other child

w/ the same bar. I've actually had American friends tell me they had

the same setup as this for bow-leggedness.(??)

My husband and I decided to e-mail a physician in Stuttgart, Germany

who has been trained by Dr Ponseti. (There is a phyician in Lyon,

France but Stuttgart is much closer.) We sent him pics today so we'll

see what he says. We may be crossing the border to have a second

opinion. I have to admit Mathieu's foot looks great! I just don't

want to interupt what has been corrected because of comfort issues.

Something else of interest is Mathieu is also receiving physical

therapy 2x/wk. We initially started out w/ PT 3x/wk for the first

couple of months after his cast was removed. It's basically 15 min

of stretching and manipulation of both his feet.

I'll take some additional pics of his feet and post them in the next

couple of days.

Thanks again,

Dawn

Hi

Kori and Kim,

> Read you message this morning and it's the exact same question I

> have. My son has a left clubfoot only--set at 30degrees w/ a full

> tilt and the right is also set at 30degrees w/ no tilt. My son

has

> the DBB or what is on the bar is actually " UNI-Bar " and open toe

> shoes (Mayzaud). He has been in w/ the DBB since Feb and is now

> 6months old today. He only required 2 castings since his foot was

> a " soft " deformity.

>

> What he has been having problems w/ lately is getting comfortable

at

> night and at naptime since he wants to sleep on his side. I have

> tried to show him how to sleep w/ his bar propped on the side of

the

> crib, and even tried to put a blanket between his legs for support

> trying to get him comfortable. He continues to wake at

night...I've

> ruled out other causes such as teething, gas pains, and too warm.

> When I initially lay him in bed he goes for the side lying

position.

> I thought the bar length was possibly to be the problem but was

> unsure about how to measure the length.

>

> Using the advise from Kori, I measured his bar

> shoulders: 23 cm

> screw to screw: 23 1/2 cm

> heel to heel (inside): 17 1/2 cm

>

> Last night I took some pics to show since I've been looking at him

> and wondering if he is actually comfortable...his knees extend out

> past his ankles and his foot left foot is tilted up. Sometimes

his

> legs seem sensitive if I need to remove his bar in the middle of

the

> night to change his diaper.

>

> I asked my doctor about how to determine bar length since we will

not

> see him until Oct (the next follow-up appt). He basically told me

he

> will not require a new bar. My son is a big little guy (19# at

> 6months and wears 12-18mo clothes) and I'm concerned we will be

> running into some comfort issues between now and then and would

like

> to be sure.

>

> I trust our MD to some extent, but w/ the appliances I don't trust

> him. We ran into the same problem w/ his shoes...he told me he

would

> not require new shoes, even though his toes were extending from

his

> shoes and his foot had been in the same shoes for the previous 3

> months. It came down to comfort one night and I had to remove his

> shoes for most of the night. The following day we got new shoes

for

> my son. (The ladies at the shoe store said definitely he needed

new

> shoes.) It made a huge difference!

>

> I put 3 pics under photos (Mathieu) ...would you mind, Kori,

looking

> at them for me and letting me know what your thoughts are?

>

> Thanks,

> Dawn

>

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