Queena arrived today looking rested, ready to work and like a Witch…well a good witch! Today is Halloween and we were all in the spirit with our orange shirts. Queena was wearing a witch’s hat and even had a broom along with her good witch shirt. The first thing that we noticed was that Queena had her head at the top of her body and was keeping her hat in place! (this was the emphasis from last week!) She also had her hands in her lap. Maybe she was planning on using the broom?
Today was spent initially working further on Queena’s tight muscles in her neck, shoulder girdle and arms. She is amazing how she tolerates 4 different therapist hands on her at one time and is still able to sort out touch commands and verbal commands and respond to them. After lengthening these muscles, Queena was able to turn her head and roll with some help from her back to side and return to her back. Most importantly, today she was able to lie on her stomach with her arms in front of her shoulders while keeping her hips down and not spasming in her legs. Here Queena had to begin to re-learn control while lifting her head.
Next was the Suit and work on neck muscles and tummy muscles. Queena uses a lot of extension to keep her body and head up and to make responses socially. This week she is learning to further control these responses and strengthen gradually the muscles on the front of her body. Today she showed that she could bring her hips up together a fraction of an inch at a time when they were held for her. Queena finished with work in sitting and finally in sit to stand. Today was the first time she was able to come to stand with assistance without opening her mouth wide and pushing her head backwards. A major accomplishment for Queena!!.
Wed. we did not put the TheraSuit on. Queena advanced to chair sitting with bungee attachment for support and worked with her arms in slings to open and close them in a hug pattern. She concentrated very hard on making small controlled movements. This day is often a turning point in the Suit program. It appeared to be for Queena as well. She was more introverted and appeared tired at the end of the arm work. She shed a few tears, but, was able to re-group when transferred to familiarity and comfort of her chair.
The end of the week Queena returned with good energy. Fewer reminders were given for alignment of her head on her body as she is able to do this on her own. For the first time in Suit Therapy, Queena kneeled at a support with help while the Suit was on. Queena initially overshot her hips when trying to get them extended, but, was able to re-group and graded the movement at her hips. Kinesiotaping was placed on her hands to further relax her fingers and palms in preparation for arm support in standing. Arm splints were added to help her keep her elbows straight while she stood at a walker with her hands. Her team stood by for support. Queena returned to sitting from standing with greater control and more gracefully than she had previously done. Another week with accomplishments and one to go….
DENISE KILBURN, PT
Denise Kilburn is Queena’s Physical Therapist and is co-owner of Pediatric Therapy Services, Inc. in Lakeland, Fl.
