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Finding Balance

I am trying to participate more in Robb's therapy sessions. I am learning how to help him with his leg-stretching exercises, and hope to be able to assist in other aspects of the therapy. Of course, once he comes home, I'll be the full time Occupational Therapist.

Occupational Therapy always seems oddly named, to me. It isn't about vocational training, but rather teaching a patient how to re-enter their daily life, and be as independent as possible.

Yesterday, I attended Robb's final Physical Therapy session of the day, where he worked on stretching, walking with a cane, and also worked on balance. Since Robb still has no sensation on the front half of the bottoms of his feet, he needs to do a lot of work on keeping his balance when he transfers weight from the his heels to the front of his feet. The therapist set Robb up inside the parallel bars (for stability) and had him stand on a variety of squishy objects so that he could practice shifting his balancing point. Robb says that he feels he is "falling off the end of the world" when he attempts to put all his weight on the front of his feet, because his brain thinks there is "nothing there." These exercises are a way of re-training Robb's mind to think about his feet and his balance in a different way.

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