Ailah’s Hip Update: Hope, Planning, and What’s Next
In support of
Ailah Rose Hardy
View Support Registry
Ailah Rose Hardy
We just got back from Houston after meeting with Ailah’s spasticity team, and I want to share an important update on her hips and what the next step in her journey looks like 🤍 This is a big decision for her future mobility, and I wanted to bring you all into it.
Ailah’s hips play a much bigger role in her mobility and daily development than most people realize. They are a central part of how the body moves and stabilizes—supporting sitting, shifting weight, standing, walking, balance, core strength, and overall posture. Because posture is a full-body connection, hip and pelvic alignment can also influence head control, breathing patterns, and even oral function like chewing and swallowing. When alignment is off, everything above it has to compensate.
One of the challenges with cerebral palsy is how it affects muscle tone and movement over time. Increased muscle tightness (spasticity) can pull the hips unevenly, which can gradually lead to hip subluxation or dislocation. This is something many children with cerebral palsy face, which is why close monitoring and early intervention are so important.
Recently, I traveled to Houston to visit Dr. Mandaluru at the Spasticity Clinic at UT Houston. This is a specialized team that evaluates and treats muscle tightness in conditions like cerebral palsy, looking at movement, tone, and joint alignment together to guide the best plan for comfort and function.
After evaluating Ailah, one of the options I am leaning into is a guided hip growth procedure. This uses small plates to gently guide hip development over time, helping improve alignment as she grows. At the same time, she would also have an adductor lengthening, which releases and lengthens the tight inner thigh muscles that pull the hips inward. Together, the goal is better alignment, stability, and comfort—without jumping straight to major reconstruction.
We are hoping to move forward in late June, while her growth plates are still in a great window for this type of intervention.
There are generally three possible outcomes. In the best case, her hips respond beautifully and gradually move into a more stable, aligned position. In another, her spasticity limits how much correction we can achieve with this approach. And in a third, if alignment cannot be maintained long-term, she may eventually need a more involved surgery called a femoral head osteotomy, where the upper thigh bone is cut and repositioned to better place the hip in the socket.
My hope and prayer is that with the guided hip growth, adductor lengthening, healing time, immediate intensive therapy after surgery, and ongoing intensive therapies, this approach is successful enough that we never even have to consider that more invasive path—that her body responds well and we see steady, lasting improvement over time.
After surgery, she will be in a wedge pillow between her legs for about two weeks to help keep everything properly positioned while she heals. I’m planning to make that time as comfortable—and honestly as fun as possible—at home while she recovers 🤍
The most important part of her recovery will be intensive therapy. Around 2–4 weeks after surgery, once she’s healed enough, she’ll begin an intensive therapy program to help retrain movement patterns, protect alignment, and build strength around her hips. This is where a lot of the long-term success really comes from.
These intensive therapies are not covered by insurance, and I’m planning for a two-week program at about $6,600 per week. It’s a big part of her recovery plan, and something I’m working hard to make possible for her.
I’m incredibly hopeful about what this could mean for Ailah’s comfort and future mobility, but I also know it’s a big journey with a lot of moving pieces.
As always, thank you for continuing to follow Ailah’s story, and for holding her in your hearts, your support, and your encouragement. It truly means more than I can put into words.
If you’d like to support Ailah’s ongoing care and upcoming medical needs, you can do so here:
www.supportnow.org/ailah-hardy
I’m so grateful to have you walking this road with us 🤍
#AilahStrong #CerebralPalsyAwareness #HipHealth #SupportAilah #HopeForAilah
Ailah’s hips play a much bigger role in her mobility and daily development than most people realize. They are a central part of how the body moves and stabilizes—supporting sitting, shifting weight, standing, walking, balance, core strength, and overall posture. Because posture is a full-body connection, hip and pelvic alignment can also influence head control, breathing patterns, and even oral function like chewing and swallowing. When alignment is off, everything above it has to compensate.
One of the challenges with cerebral palsy is how it affects muscle tone and movement over time. Increased muscle tightness (spasticity) can pull the hips unevenly, which can gradually lead to hip subluxation or dislocation. This is something many children with cerebral palsy face, which is why close monitoring and early intervention are so important.
Recently, I traveled to Houston to visit Dr. Mandaluru at the Spasticity Clinic at UT Houston. This is a specialized team that evaluates and treats muscle tightness in conditions like cerebral palsy, looking at movement, tone, and joint alignment together to guide the best plan for comfort and function.
After evaluating Ailah, one of the options I am leaning into is a guided hip growth procedure. This uses small plates to gently guide hip development over time, helping improve alignment as she grows. At the same time, she would also have an adductor lengthening, which releases and lengthens the tight inner thigh muscles that pull the hips inward. Together, the goal is better alignment, stability, and comfort—without jumping straight to major reconstruction.
We are hoping to move forward in late June, while her growth plates are still in a great window for this type of intervention.
There are generally three possible outcomes. In the best case, her hips respond beautifully and gradually move into a more stable, aligned position. In another, her spasticity limits how much correction we can achieve with this approach. And in a third, if alignment cannot be maintained long-term, she may eventually need a more involved surgery called a femoral head osteotomy, where the upper thigh bone is cut and repositioned to better place the hip in the socket.
My hope and prayer is that with the guided hip growth, adductor lengthening, healing time, immediate intensive therapy after surgery, and ongoing intensive therapies, this approach is successful enough that we never even have to consider that more invasive path—that her body responds well and we see steady, lasting improvement over time.
After surgery, she will be in a wedge pillow between her legs for about two weeks to help keep everything properly positioned while she heals. I’m planning to make that time as comfortable—and honestly as fun as possible—at home while she recovers 🤍
The most important part of her recovery will be intensive therapy. Around 2–4 weeks after surgery, once she’s healed enough, she’ll begin an intensive therapy program to help retrain movement patterns, protect alignment, and build strength around her hips. This is where a lot of the long-term success really comes from.
These intensive therapies are not covered by insurance, and I’m planning for a two-week program at about $6,600 per week. It’s a big part of her recovery plan, and something I’m working hard to make possible for her.
I’m incredibly hopeful about what this could mean for Ailah’s comfort and future mobility, but I also know it’s a big journey with a lot of moving pieces.
As always, thank you for continuing to follow Ailah’s story, and for holding her in your hearts, your support, and your encouragement. It truly means more than I can put into words.
If you’d like to support Ailah’s ongoing care and upcoming medical needs, you can do so here:
www.supportnow.org/ailah-hardy
I’m so grateful to have you walking this road with us 🤍
#AilahStrong #CerebralPalsyAwareness #HipHealth #SupportAilah #HopeForAilah
Comments
Hollie Lovely