Short straps??

[Guest guest]

Hi all! We are just back from Iowa and Olivia is back in her FAB 14-

16 hours a day. I know I read some posts not too long ago about

short straps on the Markell shoes, but truthfully, didn't pay much

attention as we wear not wearing the FAB then. We got new shoes for

Livie's bar two weeks ago when she was casted, but just started

using them when the cast came off. What in the heck is up with

those short little straps??? I remember over a year ago when Livie

was in her FAB that the straps were very long and never had a

problem, but these ones are going to quickly become a problem. The

strap on the clubfoot side I am able to tighten down to the third

hole, so it should be okay for awhile, but the strap on the normal

side is on the very last hole already. Any suggestions???

Quick update....Dr. Ponseti was not very happy with Livie's foot.

It is corrected, but not to the degree that it was before. She was

very loose before and had a good 20 degree dorsiflexion. Now the

tendons on the inside of her foot are very tight and she has only 10

degrees of dorsiflexion. He seemed very concerned that she would

not tolerate going back into the brace because of her age. He told

us if she seems to be in pain to adjust the outward rotation from 70

down to 60 because of the tightness of her foot. He sternly

reminded us that if she is noncompliant with the brace that she will

need the ATTT surgery. Then he also told a visiting doc in his

humble way that this was his fault because he had been taking loose

ligament children out of the brace, but had stopped because of the

number of relapses. I was in tears. The nurse asked me if I was

okay and I told her that this was most certainly not his fault, but

that it was mine. I should never have listened to our local doc and

taken her out of the brace without contacting Dr. Ponseti himself.

She told me not to beat myself up about it, but believe me, my heart

is taking a beating right now.

Thankfully, she is tolerating the brace so far at 70 degrees with

some whining about having to wear it, but I'm sure that as soon as

she realizes that this is a non-negotiable issue, she'll be fine.

The visiting doc was from Brazil and voiced concern over getting

parents in his country to adhere to the bracing protocol. I told

him to please share our story. It so much easy to deal with a 2 and

a half year old who has never known anything different than to deal

with one who is relapsing and back in casts and having to readjust

to the brace. Not to mention all the correction that was

permanently lost.

Anyway, sorry this got so long! I hope someone can clue me in about

what to do with these darned straps.

Jen & Olivia (10-18-01 severe left clubfoot)