Knee Brace

On February 21st of last year, Emma got her bilateral AFOs. She has made tremendous progress with them, but is now needing a little more support in a different area. When standing, Emma will lock and hyperextend her right knee and put most of her weight on that leg. So by the recommendation of her PT, Emma's pediatrician wrote her a new prescription and sent us back to Hanger to get measured and have a new brace made.

Emma had her appointment on January 7th to get her knee evaluated with the same gentleman that she saw almost a year ago for her AFOs. After some car based conversation sparked by my Skip Barber Racing School jacket, we talked about the concerns of how Emma was standing with regards to her right knee. He agreed that she needed some support, but felt (provided I agreed) that the knee should be treated as a separate issue from her ankles. I liked this as I told him I did not want her to have so much support that it could become a crutch. I also wanted her to be able to graduate out of each brace as she was able. If we did a brace for her ankle and knee together on her right leg, she would have to have two joints ready to graduate in order to stop use of it. Then we would also have the potential issue of having to have more braces made as she continued to grow taller and the brace was no longer the correct length.

So he took her measurements and told us that we would be called to come in once insurance had approved it and the brace was ready to be fitted. They called me on January 16th and collected the first half of payment so they could begin fabrication. When it was complete, they called me again on February 11th to have us come in for a fitting so she could start using it. The appointment was set for 2:30P on February 12th and I was excited to see what it would look like. When we got there, there was a quick lesson on the best practices of placing the brace on her knee. Then it was time to see how she handled standing with her new brace. Reluctant at first, she eventually stood and sang us a few songs. Soon we were on our way home!

Not too sure about it yet, but we'll get there! (please disregard the crazy socks...  I don't like plain ones)

Over the next couple days, we followed the prescribed schedule of wear to allow Emma to get used to it and to make sure there weren't any fitting issues. On the second day, there was a scratch on the back of her upper thigh where the velcro was rubbing her. I called Hanger and asked for an appointment to have an adjustment made. We went back on February 18th at 2:30P and got a new wider strap added to it that was to be under the velcro that was scratching her. After a bit more car talk, we were off again.

The new strap is the dark blue part.

So far, the brace is working well! Emma has adjusted well to it and doesn't pull on it or fight it. She is even getting more used to standing while wearing it, which is wonderful! Her teacher at school even tells me that she's doing well using it with her Physical Therapist (PT). I'm really getting curious how she will during hippotherapy when that starts back up next month!!!