by Luigi Piccinini
The literature supports the indication for a rehabilitation process to be started as soon as possible, to make the most of brain plasticity and the ability of the nervous system to adapt to unfavorable development conditions
My son has unilateral infantile cerebral palsy and I am afraid he will not be able to regain use of one arm. Can anything be done?
Luigi Piccinini, Head of Functional Rehabilitation, «E. Medea» by Bosisio Parini (VAI AL FORUM)
Cerebral palsy (PCI) is a movement and posture disorder resulting from a lesion or defect in the developing brain. Unilateral PCI (hemiplegia) requires specific attention in the treatment proposal in support of the upper limb, with the aim of contrasting learning to non-use, under-use and its progressive impoverishment. The literature supports the indication for a rehabilitation process to be started as early as possible, to make the most of brain plasticity and the ability of the nervous system to adapt to unfavorable development conditions. The proposal of Constraint induced movement therapy (Cimt) fits into this panorama with which, by binding the use of the healthy limb, a path is built to support the integration of the Paretic upper limb with a highly specific and personalized treatment .
Parents are an integral part of the project
The treatment is always child-friendly, conveyed through play and in a dedicated space, in close sharing with the family, considering the parents as an integral and active part of the project. Monitoring of the well-being of the child and the caregiver who accompanies him is guaranteed by the presence of the psychologist in the multidisciplinary team. The intensive treatment consists of four weeks of constraint, followed by two weeks of intensive bimanual intervention. The limitation with the handheld lasts at least three hours a day, seven days a week, and is initiated in infants with a reinforced sock, while in older children with a handheld device in thermoplastic material.
Reorganization of the central nervous system
The intensity of the treatment is divided into two rehabilitation interventions, alternating with a guided play space with a professional educator in which fun recreational and sensory activities are experienced. The family has its own daily space dedicated to activities: initially it can be moments dedicated to nutrition and, progressively, activities with facilitating material shared with the operators. Functional magnetic resonance studies, after Cimt treatment, have shown a plastic reorganization of the central nervous system. The intensive treatment path is not in contrast with the extensive territorial intervention, but as a parenthesis of specific intervention, closely in line with the territorial path with which the project is shared.
June 19, 2023 (change June 19, 2023 | 19:04)
© breaking latest news