Stretching

Johnathan has been sporting his AFO and night brace for over a month now, and for a three-year-old, he has quite the good attitude about it all! During the day, he wears this AFO under his shoe. Isn't it cool-looking, with all the race cars and helicopters and fire trucks? And we found the perfect socks to go under it - very comfortable (do you know how hard it is to find knee-high socks for boys? I can attest that you are highly unlikely to find them in any stores! Thanks goodness for online shopping!). The AFO keeps his right foot at a 90 degree angle, stretching out the tight heel cord, so he can't walk on his toes.

Here is his AFO - he can even take it off and on himself (when he wants too!).

And at night, when the AFO comes off, Johnathan's knee immobilizer goes on. It keeps his leg straight, which stretches out his tight right hamstring.

Sometimes all that stretching means that he wakes up in the middle of the night with leg cramps. But Johnathan's not a complainer - he'd rather curl up his legs when he sleeps, but he goes with the flow about all this new stuff. And the smile on his face and his sigh of contentment are priceless every morning when the knee brace comes off!