| Description |
Target Audience: Rehabilitation team members,
including orthotists, physical therapists, physical
medicine and rehabilitation physicians, and pediatric orthopedists.
Level: Beginner and Intermediate
The landscape of considerations of ankle function in balance and gait, and of strategies for managing ankle plantarflexion contracture - i.e., equinus deformity - is changing to embrace the roles of the somatosensory system and postural control both as causative factors and intervention strategies.
Instructor reviews the relevance of ankle function in postural control and in gait, and discusses the physiology of muscle transformation and the role of spasticity in contracture formation. The content features challenges to the rationale and effectiveness of common equinus deformity intervention paradigms including stretching, blocking ankle plantarflexion at 0o with orthoses, injecting the gastrocnemius muscle with toxin, and surgically lengthening any aspect of the triceps surae muscle-tendon unit.
Instructor presents new orthotic and training strategies, based upon the work of Shirley Sahrmann, Mary Weck, and Elaine Owen, with emphasis on children with pyramidal types of cerebral palsy.
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