Monday, July 18, 2011

New Therapy for Carson!

It has been a busy July for us! Last week we finished our first full week of therapy at 1 Plus 1 Therapy. Our session will continue every day for four weeks. It is a big commitment and investment but it's going really well! 1 Plus 1 Therapy is different from any therapy we have ever tried. One of the unique aspects of his therapy includes a spider cage which utilizes a harness and bungees to help isolate and strengthen targeted muscles. It's a great approach for spina bifida because like others Carson has very specific weak muscles and some stronger ones too. With the spider cage he gets a very customized "work out" for his own needs. It has been quite exciting because we have switched from using his canes at therapy instead of his walker! We still have a long way to go before he's using his canes independently but it's exciting to see his progress even throughout this short time frame. I am so proud of him!




Here's Carson using his canes! (He's still wearing the harness from the spider cage) Impressively, even during the first week, he was already alternating the correct cane with the opposite foot! That's a lot of coordination for a 2 year old!


Here he is in the spider cage kicking a ball! At this point he hasn't figured out that the "fun" is actually disguised as hard work! Activities like kicking the ball helps isolate targeted muscles to help increase strength.



Yup, treadmills come this size!



Carson's favorite activity: jumping! I actually had to control my emotions the first time I saw him able to jump. The look on his face was sheer joy!



Carson is working on strengthening his ankles by standing on a wobbly surface while trying to "center" his body.