TheraSuit Australia - Day one

It is very exciting for us to have Nico from the Pediatric Fitness Center here to do some more TheraSuit Therapy with me. I am booked for 6 weeks!!! I can't wait to see what I can achieve with 90 hours of intensive work!

 

This is a new exercise for me - Neuromobilisation, it gives a deep proprioception and sends postural information through the joint receptors. Nico was moving my legs quickly through a lot of different positions.

 

 

 

 

I have been doing weights with my legs too. I bend my leg up, then push it down and hold it straight and flat for 10 seonds.

 

 

 

I am even doing weights with my arms. Using my right arm is a really big deal for me. I have lots of trouble moving it on my own and I don't use it to do anything. This exercise was HARD!

 

 

Then we moved on to using 2 arms.

 

 

I surprised Mummy a bit when I was working with my left leg... I was able to kick the ball off the table with my left leg!

 

 

 

Weight baring through my arms over a wedge is still not my favourite exercise...

 

 

 

I was already so very tired by the time it came to put on the TheraSuit!

 

 

 

I still managed to do some ball exercises - (Nico cheering me on!)

 

 

 

 

Balancing on the ball...

 

 

This exercise is really interesting! Nico was using my elbow extension to help me stand up! The elbow extension activates the triceps and core muscles necessary for aligning my posture! I stood straight up - big and tall!

And even after all the hard work I had already put in, there was still more for me to do.

 

 

10.30am... all done

2012 - A year of change and skill building

There have been some pretty big improvements with my skills in 2012.

 

* I have learned to SIT UP!!!

(This is so great! Shopping trolleys or little carousels in the shopping are no problem now!)

*I can shuffle and turn around when I am sitting on my bottom!

*I will reach out and grab the person or item I am after and will hold on when they pick me up!

*I have much more strength and motivation!

*I am LOTS more vocal!

*On the rare occasion I am starting to use and move my right arm when I need it!

*I make lots more eye contact!

*I am kicking my legs independently in the pool!

*I am more alert!

*I recognise if we are going somewhere - leaving the gates, or arriving at swimming!

*I am trying to take STEPS if I am standing up and want to get to someone!

*The textures I can eat have improved and my chewing is getting good!

*I have increased hunger!

*The volume of food I can eat has greatly increased!

*I have reached 10 kg in weight!!!!!!!

*I can drink from a cup or water bottle!

 

Me and my big brother Corey

 

2012 Therapies in Review

I can't believe another year is over! This year has just flown by!

This is what I have spent all year working on...

 

80 sessions of Myofascial Release to help keep me loose.. Thanks Andrea!!

 

60 hours of TheraSuit Therapy

 

40 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen

 

9 hours of Speech Therapy at the Kauffman Center

 

40 Swimming Lessons

 

About 10 hours of combined speech and occupational therapy

 

2 Feldenkrais lessons

 

 

 3 wholistic Chiropractic adjustments

 

1 session of craniosacral therapy

 

 One month of syntonic phototherapy

 

Lots of floor time and practice riding my bike

Therapies needn't always be hard work :D

 

 

 

Feldenkrais Lesson 2

Leanne was very interested to hear about my new little achievements!
* I can still stand with my left foot flat
* I rolled over on my knees with my bottom up in the air
* I have elbow propped a little on my right arm
* I repositioned myself in a completely new position while sleeping

 

I went from sleeping on my belly.... 

 

To this!

 

 

We worked with my right foot a lot today and all the little muscles that are in it.

And after I was able to stand up with both feet flat on the floor

Lots of time was spent on my back and spine too. She said she could tell that no one had worked on it before, I have lots of cocontractures.

 

I don't have many photos because for a good portion of my time today I was being worked on over Mummy's shoulder!

I was a bit grizzly. Leanne said that is what happens when she does lots of work on children - the information seems to make us a bit tired and cranky. Adults get so tired they fall asleep!

By the end of the lesson my leg was starting to get shaky and was bouncing up and down, Leanne said that this was because my muscles are starting to release - good signs!



Cranio Sacral session 1

Last Monday I had a Cranio Sacral session with a lady called Kathy. Mummy didn't really know what to expect. Kathy spent all her time working on my feet. She could feel my whole body flow through just touching them in her special way. She didn't think I would tolerate her making such big changes by working on my head.
The hour seemed to speed by, it doesn't look like much was done to my physically, but I had the best sleep I have had in ages! Solid from 10.30 pm - 4.30 am when I woke and went back to bed with Mummy and continued to sleep until 7.30 am!!!

Feldenkrais Lesson 1

Today I had my first ever Feldenkrais lesson. It was completely different to anything I have ever tried before. I spent an hour and a half rolling happily around the office floor.

Leanne was gently moving me. Putting my feet flat on the floor and getting me to push with my feet so I would slide backwards on my back. She also pushed gently on the soles of my feet so I could feel the movement through my body. She rotated and put pressure on my pelvis and even got me to lift my bottom off the floor! 

Leanne asked a few questions about how I spend my time at home. When Mummy answered that I spend almost all my time on the floor and that I have no wheelchair, equipment, standing frames or aides etc and was medication free she stopped what she was doing with me and reached out and shook Mummy's hand.

 

Leannne spent a lot of time working on my feet and pelvis and a little on my back. Her theory was that you need to work on establishing the roots before you can start attacking the branches! (my arms and head) The whole lesson I was vocalising, and even though not very much time was spent working on my right arm I managed to partly push myself into a sitting position using my weak right arm only!! I ended up laying back down and pushing up on my left arm, but Mummy's eyes popped out when she saw me do it!

 

Another real surprise came at the end of the lesson. I wanted to stand up so I could give Leanne a big cuddle and all on my own, without any positioning help I put my left foot down flat! Most of the time I need lots of help with my feet, usually they are both a bit like my right one is here in the photo.

One thing Leanne mentioned (and I can't completely remember the words she used, so I will have to double check this ) was that I had no skeletal structure awareness or connection on my right side, which sounds fairly right. I don't realise I have a right arm or leg, I barely move them.

She asked Mummy to watch me for a couple of days and see what she notices, and also mentioned that I might have a good nights sleep tonight because she pumped me full of information! I will keep you all posted!

I can't wait for lesson 2!!!

 

 

The Feldenkrais Method®

The Feldenkrais Method® is a unique and practical approach to the ongoing development of human awareness, movement and learning. It mindfully engages each person in a thinking, feeling, sensing and moving process, enabling them to better enact their intentions.
Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984), the founder of the method, had a broad appreciation of the fields of physics, mechanics, anatomy, physiology, motor development and martial arts. He also had a personal need, as he sustained a knee injury for which he could find no treatment.
Out these diverse studies came his method which uses movement as the means for exploration of the patterns of behaviour, which are the way we live our lives.
Recent research in neuroscience, behavioural science, systems theory and learning has made it clear that many of the strategies employed in Feldenkrais lessons have a sound foundation.

Functional Integration (FI)
In a Functional Integration lesson, a trained practitioner uses his or her hands to guide the movement of a single client, who may be sitting, lying or standing (fully clothed). The practitioner uses this "hands-on" technique to help the student experience the connections among various parts of the body (with or without movement). Through precision of touch and movement, the client learns how to eliminate excess effort and thus move more freely and easily. Lessons may be specific in addressing particular issues brought by the client, or can be more global in scope. Although the technique does not specifically aim to eliminate pain or "cure" physical complaints, such issues may inform the lesson. Issues such as chronic muscle pain may resolve themselves as the client may learn a more relaxed approach to his or her physical experience—a more integrated, free, and easy way to move.

*this information has been sourced and exactly copied - it was the only way I could describe the therapy as we begin our journey