Casting for Braces

The first step in making braces is to make a cast of the legs and hips allowing a manufacturer to make pieces that fit your body well. My orthotist did the casting in two steps. First in the facilities of her office she cast my legs.

She sheaths the legs in cloth tubes and lays a piece of surgical tubing on top. Later she will use the tubing as a path to cut the cast off the leg. The she takes rolls of plaster impregnated cloth, dumps it in a bucket to get it soaked and wraps them around the leg in the same manner as a classic cast is made (In modern times fiberglass which is lighter and probably stronger would be used for a cast designed to remain for more than a few minutes.) After the cast dries, she takes a cast saw and cuts along the line if the surgical tubing. Using a special spreader tool she spreads the crack and removes the cast.

For the casting of the hips, she wanted a lower mat so I could sit with my knees on the floor and my body bent over the mat. We went to the school of orthotics at the university. I was placed in a position on the mat and my entire trunk was placed in a couple of layers of cloth tubing. After that layers of plaster were put on my back (not wrapped around the body. In the end the cloth tubing was cut off.

I have no idea how long the braces will take to make, what they will look like when they are done or, most important, what it will feel like to walk. I am very interested in how much work it will take to walk (everyone says a lot) and how difficult it will be to balance - I suppose there is little to do but wait patiently,