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| Scarlett Ritchie, who broke her leg earlier this
year and has been getting physical therapy at RiverLedge Health Care and worked with Physical Therapist Brett Amo on a leg press machine on Oct. 10. |
Five-year old dancer Scarlett Ritchie isn’t one to stand
still. Already a three-year dancing veteran, the Morristown resident didn’t want to be held
back after an accident over the summer left her with a broken leg and in a cast
for close to a month.
But after getting the cast removed at the end of August,
Scarlett’s parents noticed she wasn’t totally ready to get back on the dance
floor.
“She couldn’t walk on her tippy toes – she had no muscle
formation on her left calf,” said Tammy Ritchie, Scarlett’s mom who works as an
accountant at the United Helpers Management Company.
Maybe you haven’t stood on your tippy-toes in a while, but
for a budding dancer the movement is crucial.
“She couldn’t run or ride her bike. She had to relearn how
to walk,” Ms. Ritchie said.
So the Ritchies turned to the RiverLedge Health Care and Rehabilitation Center
Scarlett saw Joseph Longshore and Brett Amo, physical
therapists, for about an hour a day, two days a week for just over a month. And
what a difference she’s seen.
Whereas before she was limping, “almost as if she still had
her cast on,” according to her dad, Scott Ritchie, today she’s back on two legs
and jumping around, good as new.
Mr. Amo said Scarlett is one of the first child patients
he’s seen at RiverLedge, although the facility is fully outfitted for more
youngsters.
Oct. 10 was Scarlett’s last day getting physical therapy
with Mr. Amo and Mr. Longshore. To mark the occasion and thank the therapy team
she brought in a bag filled with different potato chips and gave them both a
big hug.
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| Scarlett with Brett Amo (left) and Joseph Longshore (right). |
Scarlett said she’s looking forward to getting back to
dancing the way she was before the accident.
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