The gait lab

Today is May 10th, as I begin writing this post, a good week and a half after the gait analysis actually happened. We'll see how many more days it will take me to get it completed and posted. Mostly, the pictures are pretty cool, so I'll try to tell it mostly through images!

The room is pretty impressive. Bobbi commented to me that they didn't have anything like this in Bulgaria. I pointed out to her that they don't have things like this just anywhere in the US, either! There's a reason people come here from all over the country...and the world! And here we are, twenty minutes from home.

After capturing some video and still shots of just Bobbi (some with her shoes and brace and some without), she was back in the small room where the physical therapist made all sorts of measurements - both static and range of motion.

And then the fun began. Starting with her feet, the PT and the tech assistant began taping small plastic balls covered with reflective tape at very precise points on her body.

"Use the flash!" the tech encouraged me, and am I glad I did - look how cool that photo looks! Those little balls are highly reflective.

Next came monitors to measure muscle activity.

Each of the button pairs you saw in the photo above are then attached to little wi-fi transmitter boxes.

And then, more reflective balls - some larger, some smaller.

Back out into the room. I can tell you, walking barefoot is insanely hard for this girl! But she was in such a good mood - much more optimistic than she often is, and she pushed herself beyond what even I thought she was able to do! Those blue stripes on the floor are guides for where the person needs to walk. She's allowed to take breaks after each complete lap, but it's still a lot of walking.

More measuring, this time with her supported by a harness from the ceiling so they could move her legs through different motions. I don't have any photos of it actually happening, because I got to help support and hold the limbs that weren't moving at any given time.

Here's a video of one of Bobbi's last laps. The perimeter of the room is studded with cameras measuring from every angle. There are sensors in the floor to pick up the amount of weight she is bearing at any given point. We were able to see the computer rendering of her gait patterns right after she finished each lap! It's pretty amazing to "see" her body walking on that computer screen. Not only were there data points from the balls on her feet and legs, but also her hips and the front and back of her neck - all the major movement points are there.

After removing all of the stickies (definitely her least favorite part), back ON went the brace and shoes, and after a ten-minute base-line for oxygen consumption (during which she wasn't supposed to move, or even talk!) she was then to walk to exhaustion or six minutes - whichever came first - around and around the hallway that rings the lab itself. This lets them assess how much more energy she burns to walk as compared to someone with a "typical" gait pattern. I believe she'll do another round in the gait analysis lab in a year or so to get some comparative data.

At the moment, however, we're excitedly awaiting our June 1st appointment with the surgeon to see what his plan is after all of the information they gathered during the analysis. The goal is to get as many of the necessary surgical procedures that will benefit her done during one single event. Should be quite an interesting meeting.

There. Would you look at that! I got the whole thing done tonight! I'll just skim through for typos and get this up while Matt finishes getting Mira tucked in and settled into her cozy, bright little room for the night, and then it's our turn to head to bed!