SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With strange instruments and devices measuring your every move, an appointment with a doctor can be intimidating.
But for 13-year-old Michael Cimino, it's a walk in the park as he strides through the hospital's cutting edge motion lab covered in markers and monitors.
"I just like, walk as normal, and see what they need to help me with," Cimino said.
He's been receiving care at Shriners Children's Hospital in Sacramento since he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 18 months old.
Motion capture technology, similar to what you would see in Hollywood, is applied to analyze Cimino's gait and better target surgical treatment for his cerebral palsy.
"It’s amazing. The technology is so advanced," said his mother Marleny Cimino. "He got more confident. Now, he stands tall with his friends," she said.
The work of Dr. Jon Davids, pediatric orthopedic surgeon and Emeritus Chief of Orthopedics who established the motion analysis lab in Sacramento, has been life-changing.
Video of Michael before the surgery, at the age of nine, shows his unbalanced and unsustainable gait before the surgical intervention.
"I wanted to walk. I wanted to do other activities, and it looked like my foot was dislocated," Michael Cimino said.
Compared with a newer video, "his feet are flat, his knees are straight, everything is pulling in the right direction and his walking is much more efficient," said Dr. Davids.
"The difference in before and after is amazing. I’m very grateful," Marleny Cimino said.
Prior to all of this technology, surgeons basically just watched a child walk down the hallway, did surgery and then never could really measure the outcome, Dr. Davids said.
"This has really objectified, quantified and helped us to really up our game," he said.
Since recovering from surgery, Michael Cimino has been involved an an array of activities he didn't think would be possible, from go-carting with friends, to wheelchair basketball and even bowling, surprising even some of his closest family and friends.
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