Gait Analysis

Not a lot of time to blog but here are a few pictures of the gait analysis:

First, they make tape up Zeke's shorts and make him walk a lot while they take video from various angles.  He loves this part 'cause he gets to have his shirt off.

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Then the doctor manipulates his legs and feet and another therapist records all the data into the computer.  Zeke also has to show the doctor how he can lift his legs, feet and toes from various positions.

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One of the really fun things to watch is when they put little metal balls in specific places on Zeke's body.  Once they are all placed, twelve cameras around the room each take hundreds of pictures a second and record all of his movements while walking down the blue path.  The computer then translates the movement of the metal balls on Zeke to a movie that looks like a stick figure of Zeke walking.  It's also the same technology that's used to make the realistic video games of peoples' movements.

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This is how they determine where to place the metal ball on his heel.

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After the video is done, Zeke is hooked up to a computer that measures his oxygen intake while resting.  This is also one of his favorite parts because he gets to pick a movie and sit and watch it for 10 minutes.  He can't talk or move during this part of the testing.

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Once the 10 minutes are up, Zeke has to walk for 6 minutes while they record him on the computer.  He hates this part partly because he is forced to walk without his braces and it's harder for him but also because he never wants to stop watching the movie from the resting portion of the test.

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The Kelly M. Foundation helps us with expenses when we have major medical trips for Zeke.  Thanks to them, we were able to stay in a hotel for the night.  Of course we had to check out the pool.  I took lots of pool pictures but apparently almost all of them included the baby, which I am not allowed to post.  So here is one of Zeke, who has just jumped in from the side of the pool.

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Today we meet with the pediatric orthopedic surgeon at 1:30pm.  The hospital is only a few minutes drive from Mall of America and Brittney has been begging to go shopping there again.  I guess I'll give in and go even though that's probably the last place I want to be!