- Max's visit to the foot doctor

[Guest guest]

,

Today was my first time taking Max to the foot doctor. Usually my husband

takes him, but he is out of town again, so it was my turn. I paid very

careful attention to what he said so that I could share it with you.

Basically what our boys have is pronation of the feet. It means that they

have little or no arch support due to weak muscles in the ankle area,

extending down to the bottom of the foot. That is why Max and Finlay have

these ankles that appear to turn out. Max has a particularly poor left

foot.

If Max were younger, the doctor would recommend orthotics and physical

therapy. The orthotics Max used to have. They extended up above his shoe

and stayed on with velcro straps. As Max got older, his orthotics got

shorter. Now they are like cups over his heels and extend to the balls of

his feet. These force Max's feet to go where they should.

Because Max is older and physical therapy is just not in the picture for us,

the doctor gave Max a set of 4 exercises that he must do every single night.

They are easy and take about 10 minutes at the most to complete. He said

that if Max does not do this to strengthen the muscles, and this will take

about 3 months, then he will always have sore feet.

The biggest problem we have right now is that the orthotics give Max

blisters. I don't know why and either does the doctor. We are hoping that

with the exercises and the new orthotics, he will feel better soon. It must

be awful to go through each day with feet that really, really hurt.

I hope you understand this and that it helps. I will be interested to hear

what Finlay's doctor has to say.

Jodi