Taylor has only been doing the aquatic therapy program for a few weeks now, but already I am noticing some big improvements in her overall walking and motor planning, not only during the swim sessions but following the swim sessions on dry land too.
This type of therapy is proving to be a great addition to her overall therapy regimen! She’s still getting all of the physiological, motor skills exercise and stretching routines that are achieved in her in-clinic physical therapy sessions each week, but the water therapy is definitely one of Taylor’s favorites because she doesn’t realize that she’s “working” and just thinks she’s playing in the pool. Once thought of as a ‘faddish cure’, water therapy, when combined with Taylor’s other physical therapy programs, seems to be netting significant benefits to Taylor.
Taylor is now showing improved coordination when walking independently and also when entering and exiting the pool. She is also improving her overall trunk/abdominal strength from all the exercises she’s doing while sitting on the kickboard in the water. Additionally, the swim therapist has been working with Taylor on improving her stair-climbing skills. This is a task that still presents quite a few challenges for Taylor on dry land. In the water, however, because of her weightlessness within the water and the warm water to keep her leg muscles relaxed, Taylor is now starting to walk up and down the stairs pretty efficiently in the pool. Today, she walked up 3 steps and only required minimal assistance from the therapist and walked down the same 3 steps with moderate assistance from the therapist. The challenge that Taylor is still encountering when walking down the steps is that she is not quite coordinating her weight-shift from one leg to the next. The therapist tells me that in time this will be achieved but it's one of the harder skills to acquire. In the meantime, the therapist is going to continue focusing on Taylor’s downward stair-climbing skills. The therapist has also recommended that we modify our house’s stair-rail system to a kid-friendly handrail which will make the stairs safer for Taylor when she's practicing walking up and down and to help facilitate correct form and movement patterns even further. Below is a picture of this kid-friendly stair-rail.
During today’s swim therapy, Taylor joined in a game with a few other tykes receiving therapy as well. She had a great time playing ball with them!
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog - it's like a diary only better. This is my soapbox containing a collection of my thoughts and the experiences of my life raising twins.
Prior to this blog, prior to marriage and prior to the twinsanity that I now call my life, life was quite different for me. When you visit this blog, you won’t find me writing much about my life pre-twins – I hope that’s okay. Why? You ask. Because life with twins changes everything and my life pre-multiples is now just a dizzy, distant memory. And while it’s true that life years ago may have been a little more glamorous, the life I live now is a whole lot more rewarding and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I’m glad you’ve stopped by...there’s a really strong chance that I won’t offer anything extraordinary here, but by the same token there is also the possibility that you will experience a taste of the adventures, challenges and many joys that come with my life with twins. Hopefully that will be enough to bring you back here again.
Prior to this blog, prior to marriage and prior to the twinsanity that I now call my life, life was quite different for me. When you visit this blog, you won’t find me writing much about my life pre-twins – I hope that’s okay. Why? You ask. Because life with twins changes everything and my life pre-multiples is now just a dizzy, distant memory. And while it’s true that life years ago may have been a little more glamorous, the life I live now is a whole lot more rewarding and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I’m glad you’ve stopped by...there’s a really strong chance that I won’t offer anything extraordinary here, but by the same token there is also the possibility that you will experience a taste of the adventures, challenges and many joys that come with my life with twins. Hopefully that will be enough to bring you back here again.