Our nine-year old daughter looks like other young girl her age. Her walking abilities are so good right now a lot of people don’t even realize she was born with cerebral palsy. Cassie can run playfully at recess with the other children, walk to the park or walk her horse around the barn at her therapeutic riding club. Our daughter frequently requires an assessment of her gait or moving abilities. Gait assessments have been done before and after each procedure that Cassie has trailed. Every parents dream for their disabled child is to have them walk, thus promoting independence, accessibility and living a productive life.
The efforts to improve our daughters walking abilities; have been tireless for us as parents and successful thanks to a large team of health care specialists at Mcmaster Children’s hospital. Born with a brain injury our daughter got her first pair of leg braces by six months of age. For the first three years of her young life Cassie scooted around on her bottom, using one hand and a foot to propel herself forward, she never crawled and had extreme difficulty pulling her self up or balancing. So began the exhausting journey to rehabilitate our daughter.
The Mcmaster team consisted of physiotherapists, occupational therapists at Chedoke Developmental Rehabilitation Program, a developmental pediatrician, an orthopedic specialist, a physiatrist, an extremely talented orthotist and lastly two average parents, hard working middle class, with dreams for their daughter that she will walk as best she can. The last nine years of treatments have consisted of extensive physiotherapy, conductive education, gait training on a tread mill, new braces made every 10-12 months for nine years, serial casting procedures, botox treatments and repeated gait analysis done through Mcmasters Movement Lab. Many of the treatments remain uncovered by OHIP, causing financial hardship for parents, extended benefit struggles and fund raising efforts. The gait analysis done in the movement lab is an OHIP covered desperately needed service and this article will outline why it is so valuable.
The Movement lab is an essential service needed to improve children’s walking abilities. Located at Mcmasters Innovation Park this lab examines closely the gait of children and adults with walking problems. A movement assessment allows doctors, therapists and orthotists to look closely at how our daughter’s muscles and joint’s work when she is moving. This information helps her team make decisions about exercises, braces and surgery. It also shows the team how movement changes over time due to her growth or treatments she has undergone. The full assessment includes a collection of EMG and/or Kinematic and Kinetic info and a video. The test takes only about one and a half hours for the patient however the analysis takes many hours and is essential and useful when examining the complex walking patterns of children.
The use of the Gail Analysis guided our daughter’s orthopedic specialist decision to perform a much-needed orthopedic surgery on her left foot. Six months later our daughter walks without the aide of a wheelchair, walker or even a cane. Our nine- year old daughter is begging her dad to sign up for soccer with her best friends in Ancaster. The tireless hours invested and the specialized team approach has yielded wonderful results. The possibilities for our child are enormous. There are still promising improvements in gait analysis technology on the horizon. Our daughter needs this essential Movement lab until she reaches full height. New procedures are still being developed and planned for children with cerebral palsy or other forms of movement disorders. The Proper use of Gait analysis yields better results for patients. We are still using the Gait analysis for indications for various types of orthotics for our child. We are pursuing a new sport orthotic for our daughter and you can bet Cassie will play soccer in the near future thanks to the medical professionals at Mcmaster Children’s hospital and the Much needed Movement Laboratory!!
Cassie Fruck age 9, at the motion lab at Mcmaster Children’s Hospital prior to having orthopedic surgery. I appeal to the LHIN, local government, health care administration do not cut funding for this essential service, continue to fund the Movement lab at Mcmaster Children’s hospital please!!
