The contracture battle is constant. Gwendolyn has physical therapy three times per week and Victoria and I are constantly moving, positioning, and stretching her joints to try our best to keep her from developing painful and relatively irreversible contractures. We posted about Gwendolyn's soft AFOs before and we continue to use them regularly. But, in addition to all of this we are trying two new weapons that one of our resources, CCS, has suggested:
New AFOs – Handmade, hard plastic AFOs that CCS made for Gwendolyn. Over time we will be able to adjust these to accommodate Gwendolyn's flexibility improvements. These will also do a better job of holding her ankle in place.
Kinesio tape – This is pretty interesting stuff. Kinesio tape uses elasticity to fight Gwendolyn's tendency, a result of her SMA, to constantly over-contract or extend her feet all the way to a pointed position. The tape works against that tendency and, over time, the theory is that Gwendolyn will become tired of fighting the tape and her feet will rest in a more normal position.
