some questions from sweden :o)

[Guest guest]

hi everybody!

i have joined this group now and really enjoying it.

my name is veronica and i live in sweden with my husband, son wiggo and a

lots of animals.

our son wiggo was borned with bilateral clubfeet in december last year. he

got his first plaster on his 26:th hour of living and has after that been

treated with the ponsetimethod (more or less). right now he got his dbb and

he really likes it, me too.

i have a few questions now to all of you who knows a lot of the method.

wiggo is wearing his dbb about 23,5 hour/day. the other 0,5 hour when he is

barefoot is it time for changing clothes and his jumping jack-time *laugh*

i'am wondering if i should do any mobilitytraining with him? how do you do?

and i have to ask you about the spacing between the heels on the dbb too.

what is the correct distance between the heels on the shoes? i think wiggo

got the distance between the heels too narrow. and do you know what kind of

consequences a tight bar can give?

i hope you all understand my bad english *laugh* and i'm looking forward to

your answers.

a lot of hugs to all of you from us in snowy sweden *brrrr*

/veronica and wiggo

http://www.wikberg.tk

[Guest guest]

Welcome, & Wiggo!

We're glad you found our group! I enjoyed looking at your website,

though I couldn't read it! I will have to find an electronic

translator to try to read it in English!

The pictures of Wiggo in his brace does indicate to me that his feet

are too close together. However, you have an adjustable length bar,

so you should be able to make it longer easily. You want to make it

so that the inside edges of the heels of the shoes are the same as

the width of Wiggo's shoulders. You can hold it up to his back and

roughly guess at how wide it should be. It doesn't have to be an

exact measurement. Just loosen the screws on those black clamps to

make the bar longer.

The consequences of having the bar too short are that it will be

uncomfortable for the child (especially as they grow), and they can

pull their feet out of the shoes easier. If you hold your own feet

in the same position that the brace holds Wiggo's feet...you can feel

that it's more comfortable if you widen the distance instead of

having them closer together.

You don't have to do any additional mobility training with Wiggo.

The children learn to roll, crawl and pull to a stand without any

delays. The brace will not cause any problems with Wiggo's

development. The standard Ponseti method protocol is for the child

to wear the brace 23 hours/day for 3 months after correction and then

they get longer breaks during the day without the brace. What have

your doctors told you regarding the time that they expect Wiggo to

wear the brace?

Do you know where your doctors were trained for the Ponseti method?

We're glad you're here- ask any questions!

Regards,

& (3-16-00)

left clubfoot, switched to Ponseti method at 4 months old

http://ponseticlubfoot.freeservers.com/

> hi everybody!

>

> i have joined this group now and really enjoying it.

>

> my name is veronica and i live in sweden with my husband, son wiggo

and a

> lots of animals.

>

> our son wiggo was borned with bilateral clubfeet in december last

year. he

> got his first plaster on his 26:th hour of living and has after

that been

> treated with the ponsetimethod (more or less). right now he got his

dbb and

> he really likes it, me too.

>

> i have a few questions now to all of you who knows a lot of the

method.

>

> wiggo is wearing his dbb about 23,5 hour/day. the other 0,5 hour

when he is

> barefoot is it time for changing clothes and his jumping jack-time

*laugh*

> i'am wondering if i should do any mobilitytraining with him? how do

you do?

>

> and i have to ask you about the spacing between the heels on the

dbb too.

> what is the correct distance between the heels on the shoes? i

think wiggo

> got the distance between the heels too narrow. and do you know what

kind of

> consequences a tight bar can give?

>

> i hope you all understand my bad english *laugh* and i'm looking

forward to

> your answers.

>

> a lot of hugs to all of you from us in snowy sweden *brrrr*

>

> /veronica and wiggo

> http://www.wikberg.tk

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

hi jenny!

thanks a lot for your answer.

regarding the time wiggo is going to wear the brace the doctor told us that

he is wearing them 23-23,5 hour a day until he is going to try to stand on

hes feet (normaly somewere between 9-18 months). and after that is he going

to wear the brace only during the night and when he is sleeping in daytime.

i read at some websites from us that the dbb is only worn for almost 24

hours a day in just 3 months. and after that about 14 hours a day. is that

something new in this method? or? i wonder why it isn't the same in sweden?

maybe it is a long way for the news passing over the seas *laugh*

i don't know where wiggos doctor learned about the method, i have to ask

him at next meeting. i only know that the hospital was using plaster and

splints before and has just started to treat clubfeet with plaster and the

dbb, since last summer.

is it common to do any " physiotherapy " when the child is treated with the

ponseti method? should i do any movements with the foot joint? how do you

do? i asked the doctor and he told me not to do anything.

i'm going to widen the bar tomorrow when wiggo wakes up. i asked the doctor

plenty of times if the length between the heels was correct and he said it

was. but i understand that i have to learn a lot myself so the treatment is

going to be as optimal as possible for wiggo. so i really like to be in

this group learning a lot myself.

a lot of hugs from us!

/veronica o wiggo

http://www.wikberg.tk

At 15:25 2004-03-23 +0000, you wrote:

>Welcome, & Wiggo!

>We're glad you found our group! I enjoyed looking at your website,

>though I couldn't read it! I will have to find an electronic

>translator to try to read it in English!

>The pictures of Wiggo in his brace does indicate to me that his feet

>are too close together. However, you have an adjustable length bar,

>so you should be able to make it longer easily. You want to make it

>so that the inside edges of the heels of the shoes are the same as

>the width of Wiggo's shoulders. You can hold it up to his back and

>roughly guess at how wide it should be. It doesn't have to be an

>exact measurement. Just loosen the screws on those black clamps to

>make the bar longer.

>The consequences of having the bar too short are that it will be

>uncomfortable for the child (especially as they grow), and they can

>pull their feet out of the shoes easier. If you hold your own feet

>in the same position that the brace holds Wiggo's feet...you can feel

>that it's more comfortable if you widen the distance instead of

>having them closer together.

>You don't have to do any additional mobility training with Wiggo.

>The children learn to roll, crawl and pull to a stand without any

>delays. The brace will not cause any problems with Wiggo's

>development. The standard Ponseti method protocol is for the child

>to wear the brace 23 hours/day for 3 months after correction and then

>they get longer breaks during the day without the brace. What have

>your doctors told you regarding the time that they expect Wiggo to

>wear the brace?

>Do you know where your doctors were trained for the Ponseti method?

>We're glad you're here- ask any questions!

>Regards,

> & (3-16-00)

>left clubfoot, switched to Ponseti method at 4 months old

>http://ponseticlubfoot.freeservers.com/http://ponseticlubfoot.freeservers.com\

/

>

>

> > hi everybody!

> >

> > i have joined this group now and really enjoying it.

> >

> > my name is veronica and i live in sweden with my husband, son wiggo

>and a

> > lots of animals.

> >

> > our son wiggo was borned with bilateral clubfeet in december last

>year. he

> > got his first plaster on his 26:th hour of living and has after

>that been

> > treated with the ponsetimethod (more or less). right now he got his

>dbb and

> > he really likes it, me too.

> >

> > i have a few questions now to all of you who knows a lot of the

>method.

> >

> > wiggo is wearing his dbb about 23,5 hour/day. the other 0,5 hour

>when he is

> > barefoot is it time for changing clothes and his jumping jack-time

>*laugh*

> > i'am wondering if i should do any mobilitytraining with him? how do

>you do?

> >

> > and i have to ask you about the spacing between the heels on the

>dbb too.

> > what is the correct distance between the heels on the shoes? i

>think wiggo

> > got the distance between the heels too narrow. and do you know what

>kind of

> > consequences a tight bar can give?

> >

> > i hope you all understand my bad english *laugh* and i'm looking

>forward to

> > your answers.

> >

> > a lot of hugs to all of you from us in snowy sweden *brrrr*

> >

> > /veronica and wiggo

> > http://www.wikberg.tkhttp://www.wikberg.tk

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

We live in sunny South Africa, quite different and pretty far from

Sweden! But that's what's great about this list, we all share a common

interest and experience.

I must say that from the pictures on your website your son's feet look

great, although I agree that the shoes look too close together. In our

experience, when grew, he would get restless at night until we

adjusted the width of the shoes again. My tip is to go for a little

wider rather than narrower if you're not absolutely sure about the

measurement.

Regarding your question on the DBB wear, our son was treated

by Dr Ponseti last year and it is definitely the standard Ponseti Method

to only wear the DBB for 23 hours for the first three months.

We switched to Dr Ponseti when was 10 weeks old, so he only came

out of the fulltime wear at 6 months. After that Dr Ponseti told us we

could keep them on for 16-18 hours per day. When was very

mobile, standing and cruising - between 7 and 8 months old, Dr Ponseti

reduced the DBB wear again to 14 hours per day (or when he is sleeping).

We're still on about 14 hours now and it's working well, we put them on

at 7:00 pm at night and take them off again at about 7:00 am. The other

two hours are when he has his daytime nap, usually at about 11:00 am.

We're lucky that he's quite a regular sleeper, which makes it easy. I

think it will be reduced to 12 hours when he drops his long daytime nap.

They told us in Iowa that it's best to get putting the shoes on as part

of the baby's sleep routine, which is what we did. Now when we put the

shoes on, starts to settle down because he knows it's time to get

sleepy. Well it works most of the time anyway!

Maybe you can ask your doctor if you can reduce to 16-18 hours once the

3 month period is over. But all babies are different, so there might be

some reason that he wants to keep your son in for longer?

I don't know why some doctors seem to use only parts of the Ponseti

Method, this happens in South Africa too. It makes sense to stick to the

method completely, it has been working for over 50 years now, so why try

to change it!

By the way, when we were in Iowa, we met a Swedish doctor visiting Dr

Ponseti who told us he has been doing the Ponseti Method in Sweden for

the past 20 years. He told us that Dr Ponseti is his 'hero'. Do you

know about him? This is his details from Dr Ponseti's list:

Dr. Bertil Romanus

Orthopaedic Department

Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Ostra

S-416 85 Goteborg Sweden

Tel: 46 31 343 4000

Warm regards from Africa!

and

24th Jan 2003 (treated by Dr Ponseti in April 2003)

www.clubfoot.co.za