Thursday, April 9, 2009

Some measurements etc...

Here's a snippet from the Botox assessment. This is what Dr L wrote in his notes about Isla - full of lots of technical stuff, all of which is completely lost on me, but some others may find it useful. I thought I should pop it on here, given that I will no doubt lose the actual piece of paper it's written on. I haven't received a letter like this before, so it's interesting to read all of this, even if I don't understand it ;)

Isla's OT reported that with her Peabody Developmental Motor Scales assessment of her fine motor skills, Isla scored well within normal range. Isla has not yet developed hand preference but prefers to use her right more than her left. There has been a significant decrease in mirroring of her hand movements and there is less tremor.

Michael has also been seeing her privately. He notices internal rotation, particularly of the right leg with the need to circumduct the right leg for clearance of the left. This improved after serial casting to her right leg for 2 weeks in early February 2009. Her mother also agrees that Isla was walking much straighter but the effect of this was not sustained.

Indeed today when Isla walked, she was leading with her right pelvis so the left pelvis was retracted. Her foot progression angles were + 20 degrees on the left and - 40 degrees on the right. Initial contact was with the right forefoot but she did achieve heel contact on the right in mid-stance. At times, she had left forefoot contact initally as well. She had circumduction of the right lef to assist with clearance. Isla was slightly crouched by up to 10 degrees at the knees during mid-stance.

Isla was demonstrating increased tone in the right gracilis. Passive hip abduction in flexion was approximately 45 degrees on the right and 50 degrees on the left, and in extension approximately 25 degrees on the right and 30 degrees on the left. There was internal rotation bias at the hips in extension to approximately 80 degrees on the right and 60 degrees on the left, with external rotation being approximately 30 degrees on the right and 40 degrees on the left. there was no excessive tibial torsion. Foot-thigh angles were + 20 degrees. Gastrocnemius length bilaterally was approximately + 15 degrees with the initial catch at - 15 degrees on the right and - 10 degrees on the left. Soleus length was + 25 degrees with initial catch at +5 degrees on the right and + 10 degrees on the left. There was sustained clonus bilaterally. Popliteal angles were approximately 20 degrees with no catch.