Toe Walker Lands On Feet

9-year-old girl comes to ATI Physical Therapy at the Milwaukee Third Ward clinic as a toe walker.

Transcript

"There it is! Nice"

There's quite a few aspects to Araya. She first came in as this nine-year-old girl, she had been a toe walker in school. Her parents decided to put her in a series of casts to lengthen her Achilles tendon, to allow her a more normal gate pattern. However, the casting didn't go quite as well as planned, when she came out of the casts she was unable to walk.

I heard someone say there was a little girl crawling in the parking lot. I was like, "What do you mean?" I mean, physically crawling in the parking lot. So I got to the door by the time she was coming to the door, she crawled in, crawled all down our flight of stairs, on her hands and knees. I just said, what are we going to do with her.

I have an eight-year-old daughter at home, what would I do? If my daughter were here, and some stranger was telling her to jump up and down on something that would hurt, would this be something she would do? Of course not. We just started having fun with treatment, running, jumping, playing. That set the stage for us to be able to incorporate, 'Alright, If you can do this... then you can do this. If you can jump up and down, you can walk up and down a flight of stairs.'

"Right!"

"To the left! Keep those feet straight! Keep those feet straight! Keep going, keep going!"

Once I started giving her piggy back rides, and when I did I would by the feet, and as I held her by the feet, we would give her more and more of a flex to the foot.

And make me taller!

And make her taller.

She is a spunky, energetic, nine-year-old girl who loves zombies, who loves to play, who does not like to sit on a table. Who uses her imagination every day, and that's when the game 'zombie chase' came about.

They really looked at Araya as a person, and she was really having fun when she really was being worked on. They were really getting to the heart of what the problem was. She thought they were playing, I could see that it was really the therapy, and she enjoyed it. I think that was the thing, she looked forward to coming. Never said, "I don't want to come," ever. That was the good thing, she thought this was a very good experience, and in the long run, it was the best thing she could've done.

Having to alter my mindset in what I can do to see her progress, and to see her become who she now is, a much more confident, a much more energized young girl. It's a powerful thing.

Well, what do you think of me getting better?

I think that was the best moment I've had in physical therapy.

Thanks.

I think that was kind of the difference in us listening, us caring, and letting her be who she needed to be before she would give something to us, we had to give something to her.

ATI broadcast, this is Araya signing off, bye!