PT recap

The theme of the last 2 weeks of PT has mostly been around getting E's right knee "over the heel" (not caving in), with low to moderate success. Here, the PTs are trying to make Elena aware of her knee position by having her squish play dough with the outside of her knee in standing.



In sitting, they had her hold a ball between her legs, then open up to let it fall. I think she used her left leg more than her right to release the ball. This was tried sitting (shown) and standing. This wasn't a very successful drill for her this day, b/c all she wanted to do was pick up the ball and throw it.



They tried bribing her with play cupcakes--push your knee out, then stand, then you get to assemble a cupcake. This worked better. She paid attention to the position of her right knee much more. Her knees still came together when she stood up, but at least she was somewhat aware of it.







Next, they had E put stickers on the bottom of her right foot. She puts her right foot on her left knee by herself. Good "passive" way to get her knee to turn "out".



The next big objective is working on Elena's gait, aiming for heel-toe strike. She can do this with her left (although she doesn't do it very often). Emily tried ankle weights to give E's legs momentum to swing forward while she walks. I think this is a great idea, but E needs to walk faster for it to work as intended.





She also tried to get E to kick her feet out by trying to aim for tape with her shins. E mainly tried to hit it with her knees. Still...good idea.



Lastly, trying to strengthen hip flexors/glutes while keeping her knees in-line. High knee walking--she can do this for a couple of "paces", and then normally falls forward. She wants to keep her knees wide, but she is getting better. Emily tried to give her knee boundaries with plastic guides.



Play Planks-she didn't mind this so much. Emily had her put a puzzle together in this position. She also likes the idea of the "wheelbarrow".