Surgery for hemiplegia

sarahsj52

Hi all I'm new to the group.... my son is 5 and was diagnosed with mild CP just before the age of 2. He's had serial casting, splints, Physio, hydrotherapy and Physio regularly. He's recently just had his first go with Botox which they've said didn't have the effect they were hoping for. His surgeon has talked about stunting the growth in his good leg ready to lengthen his "tricky leg." I don't really like the idea of messing around with his good leg so wanted to seek advice/support. Have any of you experienced this?

niceboots

Hi, I have diplegia - both my legs are affected, I had surgery at 13 and part of that they stunted the growth  in my less affected leg to let my worse side catch up when they did hamstring and calf lengthening. It really helped even out my leg length so I no longer had to have a big heel raise on my boot, which was brilliant at that age, when I hated my 'special needs boots' as it was! 

sarahsj52

Thank you for replying...... do you remember it being painful or having any long term problems from having it done? Are your legs still the same size in length now? Sorry for all the questions

niceboots

Don't worry about all the questions, this is what the forum's here for! I don't remember it being painful, although it was done as port of major surgery called multilevel surgery, where they lengthened muscles, moved muscles and broke and re set my hip, so I was on a lot of meds for a while! 
I haven't had any long term problems from having it done, certainly no pain where they did it, I've only got two relatively little scars where they drilled, so you can barely see I've had it... my legs are similar in length, there's still a slight difference, but it's a lot better than it was. I've only got a small raise on the bottom of my splint now. Although I've only had that for about 6 years, and I had the op done 17 years ago!