Knee immobilizers

The knee immobilizers arrived today. Andy's school PT brought some out to our house this week, and they really helped Andy stand for a longer period of time. He will usually only last 5 minutes or so standing by the couch, before he starts trying to sit down or fall over. The pedi-wrap knee immobilizers helped him to stand for a good 15 minutes. The next time we used them he lasted 25 minutes. He is also wearing AFOs underneath.

We have a kid walk gait trainer, but when we place Andy in it, he just sits in the seat. After having the knee immobilizers on, Andy cannot sit in the gait trainer, because he can't bend his knees. We went ahead and took the seat off of it as well, so now it's functioning more as a stander. Andy does not take steps right now. We are really just working on getting him to stand independently, and also crawling.

I'm very pleased with this purchase, because it is helping us to get more use out of the gait trainer. When we first ordered the gait trainer, Andy would actually take steps in it when we'd propel it forward for him. Currently, he won't step at all, when just in bare feet or wearing the AFOs only. He just isn't ready to take steps, especially when he doesn't know how to stand on his own. I'm hoping after working on this all summer, my son will be able to stand independently. I can't wait for that day. Realistically, knowing that it took him several months to learn to sit on his own without falling down, I think independent standing will take 6 months of therapy. Hopefully, not much more.