Re: children's Vitamin C and ankle exercises

[Guest guest]

I have two children ages 5 and 7, both diagnosed with CMT almost from

birth. For more than a year now we have been giving them 500mg of

Vitamin C twice a day. We have not tried vitamin E.

At the last doctor's visit, the doctor noted some improvement in strength and

flexibility, but of course we are not sure if that is as a result of the Vitamin

C or not.

We also now do ankle exercises and try to get them swimming as much as possible.

My son also recently started taking karate and my daughter yoga. Both help with

stretching.

On the ankle exercises, the most simple exercise is designed to gain

flexibility/strength in the heel cords and thus improve problems with

foot drop.

With a child layng on a flat surface and legs bent at the knees, I place my hand

on one foot with my palm on their toes and fingers toward their heels. I then

keep pressure on their toes to push their toes toward their head as I extend

their leg flat. I do this exercise 10 times on each leg (basically bending

their knee on each repetition).

When their leg is flat, I try to hold the stretch for a second or two to

increase the stretch. Hope this is helpful.

Brad.