Night Splints

Scott was given his first pair of splints at the same time as his first pair of boots in January 2002, on the day his plaster casts were sawn off (a traumatic episode, in itself!). He had been measured up for the splints while still unconscious when his plaster casts were changed under general anesthetic, about 6 weeks before the casts came off for good.

Night splints are also known as AFO's or Ankle Foot Orthosis. They are made of plastic, so are very light, and they are secured by Velcro straps. Scott has to wear them every night, so we have to be particularly careful to remember them if we stay away from home (if we forgot them, he would have to sleep the night in his boots!) Scott can only be out of either boots or splints for a maximum of an hour a day, so in the morning, it's off with the splints and on with the boots while he drinks his milk before breakfast, then in the evening we get him out of boots, and into splints while he drinks his bedtime milk. I don't bathe him every night, but when he has a bath, I let him go barefooted a bit afterwards, but then back into the boots again until time for milk and splints.

In his cot I make sure there is a sheet between him and the blanket to avoid the Velcro catching on the blanket. They don't seem to have affected his sleep at all, although sometimes when he wakes in the morning he is trying to undo the Velcro. If he starts to succeed, I may have to put something over the splints. Also, I put some light weight socks on with splints as the feet get quite sweaty and at least socks are absorbent.

I recently became concerned that the splints were not as effective as they could be, as they had been made with quite an obtuse angle on them, and I felt that his feet may benefit from the angle being closer to 90 degrees. So I went to see the orthotist at the hospital, and he agreed that it was time they provided a new pair, and this time we could choose the colour! We chose blue ones! I think this shows how vigilant and aware you have to be as a parent, as there is no formal follow up regarding footwear, and it is very much down to your own gut feelings to know when action is needed. If we hadn't gone along of our own accord to see the orthotist, then we would still have a worn out pair of boots, and splints which might not be doing as much good as they could. OWth both of these situations, I felt like I may be wasting the experts time, but in both cases my instinct was right.

Scott is great with both his splints and his boots. At the moment (20 months old) he has no reason to question any of this. I guess at some stage he will probably question why he can't have trendy trainers, or summer sandals, and why he has to put these clumpy things on at night when his friends don't. At some point, maybe he will resist them, but not yet, thankfully. People ask me how long he will have to wear special boots and splints, and I don't really know, but from other peoples' experience, I am expecting this to go on until he is 4 years old or more. We'll have to see how things develop.