Children’s Services
at Momentum

BRACING AND SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN

ORTHOSES – BRACING & SPLINTING

Momentum is Canberra’s leading provider of custom bracing and supports for children. We offer a wide range of devices specific to the unique developmental and functional needs of children.  These include:

This is a group of devices used to support the foot within shoes. Momentum supplies a wide variety of child-specific foot orthoses, including arch supports, corrective flat-foot devices, and soft devices for specific pressure/pain relief.

This is a wide group of devices support the foot, ankle and lower leg, and may be used to manage weakness, muscle tightening, joint hypermobility or structural abnormalities.  The specific style of AFO appropriate for your child’s needs would be determined during a functional assessment by an orthotist, physiotherapist, or your child’s paediatric specialist.

Momentum is one of only a handful of Australian providers offering the new PDE dynamic AFO. This new technology allows greater function than traditional plastic devices, including support for more natural walking and running. It is custom made within our local Canberra lab using laminated carbon fibre.

This is a new technology used for the management of ankle weakness (foot drop). Electrical impulses are sent to the leg to simulate normal muscle firing at specific times during walking. This encourages more normal muscle development than traditional orthotic devices. FES is not appropriate for children with reduced ankle range of movement, spasticity or high muscle tone.

This device is used for support of the foot and ankle to overcome weakness or joint changes in the ankle and foot. It offers more range of movement at the ankle than some AFO devices. This device may be incorporated into a custom AFO device to allow improved control of the foot.

Momentum offers a range of night splinting options for improvement and maintenance of joint mobility. These include custom positional splints for upper limbs, lower limbs, and off-the-shelf night resting ankle supports.

SERIAL CASTING

Momentum offers local support for serial casting to improve joint range of movement after Botox therapy or surgery.  Serial casting is the application of casts (similar to fracture casts) to gradually stretch out and increase range of movement at a joint.  Old casts are removed and new casts applied over a period of several weeks (depending on severity) to maintain stretch on the affected muscles and tendons.

A referral from a paediatric specialist or paediatric physiotherapist is required for this service.

FOOTWEAR

Footwear is crucial to effective support of children’s conditions affecting the lower limb.

Managing orthoses and footwear can be challenging. It is important that your child is not put into footwear too large for their needs as this may create issues with mobility. Momentum carries a range of medical footwear for children specific for use with foot orthotics and AFO devices. These shoes feature additional internal depth and larger openings than standard footwear.

Momentum also offers adjustments and modifications to footwear to better support your child’s unique needs.

HELMET THERAPY
PLAGIOCEPHALY AND BRACHYCEPHALY

Our team at Momentum Sports and Rehabilitation Services offer helmet therapy to manage moderate and severe cases of plagiocephaly and brachycephaly.  Our team will provide a clinical assessment followed by a 3D scan of your infant’s head. This scan is analysed, and accurate and objective information is provided regarding your infant’s head shape. The 3D scanner uses a structured light to capture the head shape. This type of light is not harmful to infants and children!

Helmet therapy consists of the use of a helmet to guide the growth of your infant’s head into the desired direction. Gentle contact/pressure over the ‘high’ points of the head is provided, whilst space is made for the head to grow and round out in the ‘flat’ areas. For best results, treatment is recommended between 4-12 months of age.

Plagiocephaly and Brachycephaly are characterised by asymmetrical flattening of the head which occurs due to prolonged external pressure on an infant’s skull. Typically flattening is seen on the back of the head, although in moderate and severe cases forehead flattening also occurs on the opposite side of the head.
You may have noticed this flattening since birth or within the first few months of your baby’s life. Whilst this flattening occurs due to a number of reasons, torticollis involvement is common.

Torticollis is a congenital condition which occurs when there is shortening of sternocleidomastoid muscle in the neck. Symptoms of torticollis include head tilting and a preference of looking and feeding on one side.

If you choose to proceed with helmet therapy, we offer a range of helmets to suit your needs.

We understand this process is time sensitive. Should you wish to proceed with helmet therapy we endeavour to fit the helmet within a 1-week period from the initial scan. We recommend reviews every 3-4 weeks to re-scan the head, track progress and modify the helmet as required.

Disclaimer: We recommend first seeking alternative health practitioner intervention for conservative management of plagiocephaly (such as a Paediatric Physiotherapist). Many cases of plagiocephaly, brachycephaly and torticollis can be improved through repositioning techniques.

WE UNDERSTAND KIDS

It’s hard for kids to stand out by their need for bracing or custom footwear. Let us make orthoses or footwear to suit your style!

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