New Therapy for Children with Cerebral Palsy

A study has shown that a new constraint-induced movement therapy helps children with cerebral palsy (CP) to recover motor function with lasting benefits. The study was published in the February 2, 2004, issue of Pediatrics.

Children with CP have an inability to control their muscles as a result of damage to the region of the brain that controls muscle tone. Researchers borrowed the constraint induced movement therapy used to help stroke patients. Working with 18 children with CP, they placed each child's stronger arm in a cast, which the children wore for three weeks, and then gave them six hours of therapy per day for 21 days to retrain the weaker arm and hand to move. A control group received conventional physical therapy. Across all measures, the induced therapy produced enhanced motor function in the weaker arm, and six months later, the children still had sustained benefits.

"Rather than languishing in less-effective regimens, children and their families now have hope for drastic improvements,” said Sharon Landesman Ramey, professor at the School of Nursing & Health Studies at Georgetown University (Washington, DC, USA; www.georgetown.edu). "We are understandably thrilled by these results, and look forward to testing them with broader groups of children with cerebral palsy.”

The constraint induced movement therapy was pioneered by Dr. Edward Taub at the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, USAThe therapy has shown significant results in helping adults recover motor function after a stroke.




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