Sure Steps: Part 1

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Now that Noah is walking around furniture and on his walker, we need to get him Sure Steps and a pair of real shoes.  Sure Steps are like ankle braces that go between his sock and shoe to keep his ankles and feet straight.  
When Noah stands, he has pronation in his feet which means basically that he leans on his inner arch.  He also turns his feet out (see the picture below).  So the Sure Steps will straighten his feet and stop the pronation.  When you put the Sure Steps on, they actually look like they are going on the wrong foot because the longer side is on the outside, but that is what will keep his feet from facing outwards.

Check out the feet positioning

I have known about Sure Steps since Noah was born and the fact he would probably need them, so I had my research done earlier (thank you Down syndrome support groups!) and I knew it was time.  Noah's PT also brought it up once he started walking along furniture so she called Noahs' pediatrician and got a prescription for him and had it sent to the Orthopedics office and yesterday Noah had his fitting for them.

They had a nice play area for TJ

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the fitting because Noah was asleep in my arms, the entire time, which made it easy for measuring.  They measured his ankles, feet width and length, etc.  He showed us what they look like then let us pick out a design we wanted on them.  Actually, he came in and said to TJ "Want to pick out the design for your brother?!"  Ugh, are you kidding me?!  I actually did not want a design but luckily TJ didn't really understand so I chose a plain blue and John picked white straps.

He also said that Noah's outside ankle bone is low.  If you look at your ankle bones, they are pretty much straight across and are a few inches above the bottom of the foot.  Noah's inner ankle bone is "normal" while the outer one is low, very close to the bottom of the foot.  He's not a doctor, he said it's not a a bad thing, he was just pointed it out.  But I have to image, it's not a good thing.  I would think the ankle bone not being in the proper place would hinder his walking somewhat.  Maybe not, maybe it'll change as he grows.  Next time I go to the doctor I will find out.

So it'll be a few weeks before we get them. Part 2 to come then!