New AFOs

Two weeks ago Elena got her new AFOs. They're DAFOs, actually. Our orthotist recommended we switch to this brand b/c he thought E would stay better in the "foot cage".

PICTURES HERE

Well...I had my doubts. First of all, the entire inner portion of the DAFO is soft, and it slides into a harder shell--this was completely unlike her last pair [UPDATE LINK]. Once she put them on, she said they felt good and she liked them.

We've been trying to work our way into the switch, but it's been difficult. She says her right heel hurts sometimes--I believe she is coming out of the brace starting with the right heel, and it's rubbing her heel against the brace.

She also came home from school completely out of her DAFOs--still wearing them, but basically with only her tippy toes in the heel cups. In otherwords, the braces as is do NOT keep her heels from coming up and her feet escaping the braces. Granted, she was probably playing on the floor when she started slipping out (we hadn't had much of a problem at home with this) but the fact that she was walking so oddly and in pain was very upsetting.

I'm going to give these DAFOs a good solid try...but I have to admit, I like the way her old style performs.