spinal bifida

Dear Doctors/All,

My six month old son was born with spinal bifida at the lower abdomen region. The spinal bifida was surgically closed up when he was two weeks old. Since birth the spinal bifida caused him to lose the normal functions of his two legs (they are weak, he rearly move them).
Please is there any physical therapy i can administer to him to improve the functions of his legs.

[selmaS]

HI...I am not a dr, and I wonder if he also has tethered cord and if the drs have plans to detether him?Does he also have chiari malformation?
I have no idea if patterning will work for ur DS, but it is worth a try....u move his legs for him everyday at the same times for the same length of time....I pray u get some answers from drs and a way to get him to use his legs.....

Godspeed
"selma"

[selmaS]

HI...I am not a dr, but there have been great strides made in this are and I would deff push ur pediatrician for a specialist in this area....plus have they talked to u about patterning?..where u manually move his legs on a reg schedule to keep the muscles used to moving and so they do not tighten up.....

Good luck
"selma"

[Soggymoggy]

Hi Rhemmy,

Walking is a spinal reflex, so you need to determine whether this "weakness" in your son's legs is literally an issue with muscle activation/strength, or a problem with the reflex at spinal level.  You would need tests carried out to make this determination.

Where are you based?  If you're in the UK then there's a specialist in the field I can recommend who's an expert on spinal reflexes - if anyone can help he'd be able to.  Let me know if you're in the UK and I can grab his details for you.

Soggymoggy.

[rhemmy]

Thank you for your response,
Unfortunately i am not base in UK, i reside in Nigeria but i am planning to visit UK by December 2010.

The actual situation now is that, there is reflex from the spinal cord but the muscle seems to be weak, this is because one can see him moving the legs but they are weak.  

[rhemmy]

Thanks for your response,
I have been trying what you advised based on the advice of our doctor. Now i can feel some movements in the legs though they are very weak.

[selmaS]

I am so happy to hear ur dr advised u to use the patterning method and that u r seeing results!!

I pray u continue to see results and ur DS gets the use of his legs.

Please keep me posted on his progress : )

"selma"