Walk this Way

Tory has lived cast-free for over a week now. He's mostly back to his old self. He's climbing, running, and jumping again. Of course he climbed, ran, and jumped with his cast on his leg, but now he can move much faster.

The only thing that still needs to return to normal is his gait. While Tory lived with his cast, he discovered that the easiest way to move was to turn his left cast leg outward. That gave his immobile leg the stability and agility to hobble along at sibling-chasing speeds.

Now that his cast is off, he's still turning his leg outward. When he walks, he holds his foot at as much as a 60-degree angle to the side, and continues to hobble like he did with his cast. This is an improvement over the first time he tried walking without a cast when his knee buckled and collapsed, but it's still not right.

I worry about his foot because that's my job as a full-time parent. The orthopedic doctor who treated his leg told us not to worry about his foot, that it should return to normal within a couple of weeks without help. I know it's improving and the average angle that he holds his foot to the side is slowly decreasing, but I still worry.

Just because I could, I let a physical therapist check his foot a couple days ago before Abbie's speech therapy. She moved his foot in every direction, and reported that he had no range of motion problems. He just needs time to regain his strength and flexibility, and maybe to remember how to walk.

I'm trying to help him remember how to walk by encouraging him to keep his feet pointed forward while walking. The lesson doesn't sink in, though, and he keeps walking with his foot at an angle. He'll get there, he just needs time. And maybe the occasional stretching exercise.