Hi Everyone
Great report tonight from Natalie and Anne.
Natalie felt a big change in Corey’s leg as she walked into the gym. Once she hit the matte, Natalie was very impressed with how relaxed Corey’s ankle and toes were. With a lot of hard work, she could keep Corey’s foot flexed to maintain her range of motion despite her foot getting stiffer/tighter with tone. Since the botox shots, her ankle “melted” and Natalie could push her past her usual block point.
Anne had an evaluation the week before the botox injections. Corey’s ability to lift her left arm independently was difficult. She could open her fingers and hand palm down but was unable to rotate her palm. Today, she had active movement lifing her left arm and rotated her left palm from face down to face right (think of the position to shake someone’s hand).
Today’s activity was to grab a horseshoe with her left hand, rotate it palm up (as if to toss it underhand) and release her fingers for the shoe to roll off her hand onto the spike. Anne was thrilled with her ability to finish this task. In fact, this was the “reach” task she planned for the day. Anne is so pleased with the intial response to the shots, she asked us if we could pick up an extra session per week. That made me VERY happy! Corey will have 2 hours of PT and 2 hours of OT weekly for the next month. We will work just as hard at home to maintain the lessons taught at rehab. It is still my conviction that 15-20 hours of exercise a week is what a TBI survivor requires to successfully recover and regain their strength. Corey is the poster child for this platform!
Isn’t it interesting Anne chose to work with a horseshoe for today’s session? To those that are superstitious, a horseshoe represents good luck and good fortune…(we are superstitious)…As Caitlin would say, “It’s a sign”….xoxo