Serial Casting

[rangermom]

My DS (almost 4) has very tight achilles tendons and toe walks. We went to a physical therapist on Friday that recommended serieal casting to lengthen his tendons. It will probably only be his left leg, as she believed that if the left leg was fixed then the right will fix its self. But it is up to the orthopedic surgeon. We are hoping this prevents the need for surgery. We have an appt on Dec 4th to see the surgeon. We are also going to see a neurologist to finally get his diagnosis. It is believed by his pediatrician and physical thereapist he may have a mild form od cerebal palsy. I knew all this was coming, but it still doesn't stop my heart from breaking.

Does anyone have any experience with serial casting? What should we expect and how effective was it?

At least they waited the week after our vacation to start the casting.

 

[Kellea]

My DS7 has a diagnosis of CP and toe walks as well. First of all...why are they serial casting without trying AFO's first? I would get your child into a Shriners Hospital asap. My son has very tight tendons as well and the AFO's have prevented surgery. He's almost 8 and has had them for about 3 or 4 years now. My orthopedic specialist at Shriners said we would go from least invasive and go from there. The progression he told me was AFO's, then serial casting with Botox injections and finally surgery. The AFO's have prevented surgery thus far. They come in all kinds of great colors and can be made with cartoon characters as well. My DS calls them his "magic shoes" and tells other kids that they make him run faster and jump higher. I urge you to contact Shriners. They do not charge anything for their services and I have found the orthopedic department to be top notch. I travel 3 hours to go to the one in Lexington, Kentucky and it is worth every single mile. Best of luck.

 

[rangermom]

Thanks for the replay. I haven't been on the boards much lately. We have been going to Phoenix Children's Hospital. Both his orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist advised that he needed more intervention than just AFO's and physical therapy. They recommended the serial casting as the first choice because it was conservative but aggressive. He has been in the casts since Dec 3rd. Since we live 4 hrs away from the hospital he has been going every 2 weeks to get new casts. His right tendon is now the length it should be and there has been a little improvement on the left. He goes next week for hopefully the final set of casts and will be fitted for AFO's then. After he completes the serial casting he will wear the AFO's and begin PT. I'll look in the Shriner's Hospital.

 

[gandycat]

I'm glad things went well with the casting. My son has Sensory Processing Disorder and toe walks. We did AFO's with not much progress and finally agreed to do the casting. It was really fine and not much of a problem at all. The hardest thing was keeping them from getting damp from normal walking outside. Good luck!

 

[rangermom]

I'm glad things went well with the casting. My son has Sensory Processing Disorder and toe walks. We did AFO's with not much progress and finally agreed to do the casting. It was really fine and not much of a problem at all. The hardest thing was keeping them from getting damp from normal walking outside. Good luck!

I have been really bad about keeping up with this thread and logging on to the boards. DS gets his casts off tomorrow and will get his braces (he chose Spiderman). He has a MRI on Thursday to get his offical diagnosis. I don't think the AFO's would have worked without doing the casting first. Just from watching him walk with the casts, his right leg seems to be where it should, but he still seems to toe walk with the left. I am hoping that one he get the casts off and has the braces and PT it will continue to get better (if not, then surgery will be the next option). It has been a long 7 weeks and he has been great. It is has been snowing like crazy here and he has not been able to play outside. He asked me today if he could bring his snow boots to the Dr's tomorrow to wear home. I told him that he may have to have special shoes with the braces. Does anyone know if he will have to have a particular shoe to wear with the braces?

 

[tinytreasures]

wow 7 weeks in casts that is a long time
the longest we have ever done is 4 weeks here

we like new balance wide shoes for our son and our dd uses merrells shoes over hers
crocs work great too

 

[rangermom]

DS got his casts off and is now wearing AFO's. He has to wear them all the time and will be getting PT 3 times a week for the next 2 months. The orthothics company sold us Answer 2 shoes. They are tennis shoes made specifically for AFO's. He seems to be walking pretty well in them already. Tomorrow we have the dreaded MRI.