Tuesday 29 October
2013
Today J took Little S to see the physiotherapist – we’ve been
concerned that she’s not able to climb stairs or walk for that long (Little S rather
than J!) and wanted to check whether this was just due to her heart condition
or whether there was anything else involved that we might be able to help her
with.
Well, it turns out that Little S also has hypermobility – joints
that stretch farther than normal, sometimes known as being 'double jointed'.
It’s not necessarily a problem but can mean that joints can
be a bit too bendy and so muscles need to be a bit stronger to get joints to
work properly. Can potentially also cause problems in child birth – but that’s
a long way away for Little S to worry about!
Hypermobility is found in about 5% of the population, but that percentage seems to be much higher for ballet dancers and in my family –
for instance, my dad goes to yoga and I can ‘walk through my hands’: hold my hands and then
take them 360 degrees around myself without letting go. Oh, and my sister has also been diagnosed as hypermobile, so
there probably is some connection there.
The upshot is that Little S has some exercises to add into
her daily regime – I say exercises but they’re really just games she needs to
play every day – like standing up to put something in a box that’s just out of
reach or throwing a ball or swimming or doing more walking up and down stairs –
all of which she thinks is great fun!
The good thing is that all this means that it’s not just her
heart that’s holding her back and that we can do some things to help her
improve her mobility.
In other news, the community nurses called to ask if we
wanted to be discharged as they hadn’t spoken to us in six months – we thought
that a better question would be to ask if we wanted them to come and see us!
But actually it’s probably better being ‘on their books’ and not discharged just
in case we need to get in touch quickly.
That’s all for now - keep smiling!
