A Cup A Day

Sometimes I get a little silly. (ok, I often get a little silly)…if it isn’t a test week, Pediatrics gives the right side of my brain lots of opportunity to play and express itself:

We learned all about bracing, splinting, and taping in the pediatric population today…this little finger puppet is made from Aquaplast and Kinesio Tape.

Aquaplast is a low temperature thermoplastic that becomes moldable when heated in warm water. It is a great option for creating splints that can be easily readjusted and shaped as kids grow.

Kinesio Tape is all the rage now a days, from olympic athletes to strangers on the train it is popping up everywhere. Its elasticity can help fascilitate neurmuscular re-education (ie hold that posture there), assist with muscle action, realignment  pain management, edema management, and scar management…it has been described as “Taking therapist’s hands home with you.” At this point there is a lot of expert opinion (and patient support) of the use of this cool stuff…there is a paucity of high quality studies and evidence to support all of these claims. However, that just means lets get our RCTs (randomized control trials) on and test it out!!

Well, here is what the materials are actually intended to do :

Hinged AFO

Some kinesiotape facilitating the zygomaticus major m. (SMILE!)

SMAO

Pringle (for top foot cushion)