Good-bye Butterflies

Remember these?

They are being replaced with these:

While not nearly as stylish or colorful, these new AFOs are lighter (carbon composite) and don't require Alice to wear shoes 1.5 sizes larger than her foot size. I've had some concerns about the "butterfly" DAFOs that I discussed with her physical therapist. When Alice wears the Butterflies she scuffs her feet much more and just seems to walk "heavy". The orthotist originally selected that style because Alice's gait was sloppy and she consistently "snapped" her knee back as she walked. The snapping is mostly gone, whether from the DAFOs, physical therapy, kung fu/tai chi or a combination of those. Fortunately the physical therapist and orthotist know each other (actually how I found our PT!) so they discussed the pros and cons of the different options and agreed to have Alice try something new.

 

She only got them yesterday morning and wore them for the first time during her PT appointment after school. The PT liked the difference and so do I. Alice walks "lighter" and with no more scuffing. I think she also toes in less with these. She likes that they go on much faster - shoe and AFO together - and they fit inside her old tennis shoes with the velcro closure which also speeds things up. Yesterday she was late going to and from dance class at school at least partly because of changing her footware.

 

She'll wear them for increasing lengths of time over the weekend and if we don't encounter any issues she will try them for school on Monday.

 

UPDATE: So after she came home from school, Alice went barefoot for about an hour to let her feet cool and rest from wearing the "butterflies" all day. Then I asked her to wear the new AFOs for about 2 hours until time to go to our Friday evening tai chi class. She decided to keep them on and where them TO tai chi and for the first 1/2 of class! I was shocked. Then today she wore them ALL afternoon to an event. When we got home I told her she could take them off and she decided to keep them on another hour or so. I think she likes them!