TheraSuit Australia - Day Six

 This was a big, BIG day of firsts and improvements!!! This is me being warmed up with towels and hot water bottles.

Then I was massaged and stretched.

 

 My arms are splinted and then wrapped for 3 reasons...

1- the wrapping stops the splints from bending so my arms stay as straight as possible

2 - it gives deep proprioception through my arms with extra pressure

3 - It stops the velcro from scratching

 Today I had 1kg on my arm and 2kgs on my leg.

 This exercise is still MIGHTY hard! I had 3.5kgs on my legs...

 The pushing exercises are still hard too, especially after the tiring exercise before.

This is a new big deal for today!! I have BALANCE in four point!!!!
I did some cross patterning too, where I move my right arm to my left leg and my left arm to my right leg.

Today I even sprung up into a standing position with only a light touch from Nico! Another big IMPROVEMENT!!

 This is another MAJOR achievement for me today!! I KICKED THE BALL!!! Multiple times with both legs! I even had 1kg of weight strapped to my right foot that made it harder.

We also did walking with a walker. I took a few pretty good steps!!

TheraSuit Australia - Day Five

Every day, whether I mention it or not I am warmed up with hot water bottles, massaged with arnica oil and stretched. This morning Nico spent some extra time on my feet.

Nico pointed out that I still have a primitive or baby reflex called the Babinski Reflex. My big toe points upwards when I try to use my foot. It stops me from maintaining correct foot position by making my toes and foot point down. This is called Plantar flexion. You can see a little bit of what he did to counter this in the photo at the top of the page. He bent my big toe down and put some pressure on my heel. When he did this my feet naturally into dorsiflexion. When he did this it broke the reflex.

The weights are still a big effort for me to do.

And they are terribly exhausting!

Before I start with the exercises I am weighed down by sand bags. This stops me from compensating for my weaker muscles with my stronger ones.

I even tried 4.5 kg on my legs today!!! I did a few pushes with it before Nico made it a bit lighter for me.

I pushed against Nico again today. I am going to have some very strong core muscles when I am finished!

I sneak a little rest when ever I can. The weights really take it out of me!

Also walked with the walker today, but since Mummy had to hold it for me to stop it from running away there are no good photos..

15 hours or one week down... Thank goodness for 2 days rest...

TheraSuit Australia - Day Four

Day four started with my usual warm up, massage with arnica oil and stretching

My left arm has never really been worked on before. I have enough movement in this arm to touch things or put it in my mouth, so most therapists leave it alone. It is almost an entirely new experience for me.

 I am still finding the weights to be hard work, In this exercise I have weights on both my arm and legs and I push them both down at the same time. I have never really used my right side before so having to use it for movement feels wrong to me and having the extra weight makes it even harder and more strange.

This exercise is still the one I am most cooperative with. There are no weights involved. It is just Nico showing me how to use my abductor and the medio gluteus muscle groups in order to stabilize the pelvis and loosen the adductors. All the muscle names seem a bit technical, basically it is all the muscles in the top of my leg, groin and bottom. Luckily I get warmed up well!

 I push through this exercise as best as I can, but I am still finding it mighty hard work! There is 3.5kg hooked to the rope on my legs that I need to lift up and hold off the floor. This exercise is sure to be a muscle builder!

Another strenuous exercise for me... Pushing against Nico, while he is pushing his weight against me.

In this exercise I need to push my body out and lift my head up. It is hard to pull myself up like that, but I can do it with effort.

Four point is still not my favourite. I have sand bags on my legs to stop me from stretching out flat. I need to alternate between my arms, stretching out with one and weight bearing on my other. This is what will happen when I start to crawl.

Kneeling on the rockerboard.

This is something I used to do when I was first diagnosed. Spinning in the chair stimulates my vestibular system - I use it to process a lot of my information. It is stimulated by rocking, bouncing or spinning - like Nico is doing with the office chair. My vestibular system has once been described to me as being like a highway jammed with cars. The cars need to be moving for any new traffic to flow freely - so for me to process any new information (skill learning etc) I need to get the highway flowing. Spinning is one way to do this for me. You can also see how well I am processing by the amount of time my eyes take to centre when we have stopped going around in circles! It also helps with learning balance.

At the end of the day I use the very last of my energy to walk to Mummy before I can get out of my suit.

TheraSuit Australia - Day Three

 I am starting to get upset as soon as I am put on to the table to start a hard days work. I know what is ahead of me now

 Even though the massage and the warming up process doesn't hurt, I am still not keen for Nico to start

 The weights on my arms are such hard work for me and I try so very, very hard.

 I have started not to cry so much during this ball exercise. It is one of the easier exercises for me. Especially when I am using my left leg.

 Around 8.30 am I stopped for some food. Mummy hopes it will help with my energy levels. Mmmm... mashed banana...

 This exercise still takes every single ounce of my energy. Mummy has never seen me try so hard at anything before.

 I almost have no energy to do the exercise where I have to push against Nico

In between exercises I have even started to snatch little snippets of rest where I can.

 Before moving onto the hard task of four point. I can see the use in doing this exercise. The other day Mummy saw me accidentally push up at home with out thinking. It was only very briefly - but I used it.

 I also did a little bit of cross patterning while I was stretching. I bring my right arm to my left leg and then switch to moving my left arm to my right leg.

 In this exercise Nico is showing me how to bend my leg and move it forward like taking a step.

 To finish the session I walked about 5 metres to Mummy. I took a few good steps - including some with my right leg. There was even an extra 2 kilos of weight strapped to my right leg!!

 I fell straight to sleep as soon as I was finished at 10.30

TheraSuit Australia - Day Two

Each morning I am warmed up with hot water bottles to help my muscles release 

Then I am massaged all over my arms and legs with arnica oil and the hard work begins!

 

I work on moving my leg to the side to kick the ball to the side and off the table.

 And move on to doing weights with my arms, one arm at a time then both together

 

This exercise is by far the hardest thing I have ever done. I need to push my arms and legs down together and hold for the count of 10 seconds! It takes every ounce of my strength!

 

This one is hard for me too. I push with my arms against Nico's hands. This activates my triceps and core muscles and helps me to sit up using extension instead of flexion.

By the time I have finished with those last two exercises I am exhausted!

 But there is still lots of work left to be done before my three hours are up.

The dreaded four point position... probably my most disliked exercise... But I need to master this position if I am going to get up and crawling...

 We work on lots of positioning too. Nico suggested I learn to eat sitting in this position and to slowly intergrate some of these correct postural positions into my every day life. Eventually I won't think of these as work and they will start to come naturally.

We did some more strengthening exercises in the cage. This is called the spider - all the bungees are helping to keep my balance.

By the time 10.30 rolled around I was fast asleep again