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How Do We Assess Your Child’s Orthotic Needs?
We start with an evaluation or consultation appointment.
Our clinicians will start the appointment by listening to your concerns.
We will assess your child's foot/knee alignment, ankle/knee range of motion (ROM), muscle stiffness, and the quality of their gait pattern.
We will discuss our clinical findings with you.
We connect our observations with your concerns to establish goals for your child.
We use these goals to determine the best orthotic intervention.
After we come to a common agreement about the orthotic design, we will take a mold of your child's feet. These will be used to make custom braces.
We will also measure your child for shoes and discuss shoe recommendations with you.
We never like to work unilaterally. After the appointment, we will contact your child's physical therapist/physician to share our assessment, goals, and orthotic recommendation.
What Do you need to do after the evaluation?
Before your scheduled fitting appointment, we highly recommend that you purchase shoes. An appropriate fitting shoe ensures proper functioning and effectiveness of the brace. Some families find it helpful to buy 2 pairs of shoes: one for indoors and one for outdoors.
What do I look for when purchasing shoes?
Athletic-style shoe
Laces (avoid elastic laces and Velcro closures)
Removable insole
Our Recommendation
Finding shoes can be difficult for many families. Our practitioners try to simplify the process by measuring your child for shoes during their appointment and providing a recommendation on size and width. Check out our staff’s recommendations for shoes that will provide optimal fit and function!
Curious about what to do in the winter? Check out our Winter Boot Recommendations!
What happens at the fitting appointment?
Your child will try on the braces for the first time.
Our clinicians will finalize the fit of your child's braces.
We will tune the braces in the shoes for optimal function.
We will review the following Use & Care information with you:
Recommended break-in schedule
Wear schedule
Common skin concerns
Cleaning instructions
We will teach you how to put on and take off the brace.
What happens at follow-up appointments?
After the fitting appointment, our clinicians will see your child back for 3-4 1-hour follow-up appointments to track your child's progress.
During each of these appointments, our clinicians will discuss any concerns you may have about the fit or function of the brace.
We will discuss how things are going with the wear schedule.
We will check your child's skin and reassess the fit of the braces. If needed, we will make any necessary changes to address areas of pressure or skin irritation.
We will check the brace for structural integrity. Wear and tear happen to every brace over time. Most commonly, the straps will need to be replaced at some point during the lifespan of the brace. Strap replacements are needed approximately every 6 months.
We will reassess how your child is walking. As your child weans into the brace, their gait pattern will begin normalizing. Additional tuning may be needed to maximize function.