Overpronation

Overpronation is when you stand on the inside of your feet instead of in a neutral position.  Once Megan started putting weight on her feet it became obvious that she overpronated - really really badly.  Until we met with someone about it we were afraid to let her keep standing that way because it looks so painful, though she never acted like it hurt.  We were assured by her orthopedist that it was fine for her to stand/walk barefoot if she wanted to, and that it wasn't hurting her.  In order to correct the overpronation Megan has been wearing orthotics, most recently the custom ones that provide great support.

There are times when Megan is standing in her orthotics that it looks like she is still overpronating with her right foot.  It is nowhere near as bad but she is not quite in neutral with that foot.  I pointed it out to Mandy a few visits (weeks) ago and she agreed that it was still overpronating but that she thought it was okay.  She said that once Megan starts walking her core and leg muscles will strengthen and that will pull her feet back into the neutral position.  I was happy to hear that because I don't want her to have to wear the orthotics, I want her to be able to wear all of the girly shoes that she wants.

Today is Friday, Megan started cruising behind the walker wagon on Sunday, so 6 days ago.  By the end of the day she has probably taken 300-400 steps (15ish steps per trip across the room), some days more and some days a little less.

This afternoon Megan was standing barefoot and I noticed that her left ankle wasn't turning in.  At first I thought it was just the way her weight was balanced but every time she stood up it looked pretty good.  Tonight Will and I took some pictures of her standing barefoot, not an easy task when she is not interested in participating.  We have about 7-8 photos.  In a couple of them both of Megan's feet are only about 5-10% off of neutral, in a couple one ankle is almost perfect and the other one is about 15% off.  I would rate her previous positioning at 50%+ off at least.  This is so exciting to see that they are correcting after such a short period of time, and that her muscles are getting that much stronger.