Splinting and Casting Services

Splinting Services at the Child Development Center focus on providing the best quality custom splints for infants and young children to support their mobility, posture, and joint alignment. Individual assessment of the child is combined with therapist, physician and parent collaboration in the decision making process for the child's specific splinting needs.

Splints may be used to:

• Support extremities if alignment is poor due to weakness, muscle imbalance, congenital deformities, musculoskeletal or neurological disorders
• Improve ankle foot alignment for standing and ambulation
• Enhance the child's mobility and performance for balance or gross motor skills
• Provide stability for gait training
• Assist upper extremity development of fine motor skills
• Prevent deformities and promote development of normal boney alignment

Therapists have advanced training and expertise in fabrication of custom splints for infants and children with the following diagnoses:

• Cerebral palsy
• Prematurity
• Developmental delays
• Congenital deformities
• Genetic disorders
• Arthrogryposis
• Brachial plexus injuries
• Congenital myopathies
• Muscular dystrophies
• Torticollis
• Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Custom dynamic ankle foot orthotics are available through Cascade DAFO, Inc. to meet the more challenging mobility needs of patients.

Upper and lower extremity splinting is also available for premature infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Nurseries in collaboration with the NICU Therapy Team.

Constraint induced movement therapy casting or splinting is available for infants and children with cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injury and other disorders with asymmetric upper extremity motor impairment. Constraint induced movement therapy encourages more spontaneous use of the involved arm. The commitment of the childʼs care team, including the parents, therapists and teachers is essential to the success of this approach.