He alth is the most important, the most fragile, the most necessary value in the life of any person. The fact that not everyone is fully aware of the importance of a he althy body does not in any way detract from its importance. At the present time, people with good he alth and the absence of painful sensations and disease-causing conditions take this very lightly. It is not surprising: nothing hurts, nothing worries - so there is nothing to think about. But this does not apply to those who were born already sick. This frivolity is not understood by those who were not allowed to enjoy he alth and full-fledged normal life. This does not apply to people with cerebral palsy.
The essence of the diagnosis of cerebral palsy
Infantile cerebral palsy (ICP) is a chronic diseasewhich does not belong to the progressive group, but requires constant and regular treatment due to pathologies of the brain, in its cortex or subcortical areas, trunk or capsules. This disease manifests itself mainly in the partial physical and intellectual-psychological failure of a person, as well as the inability to fully control his body. This failure is explained by the fact that the patient's brain does not send a signal to the muscles for motor activity, so he cannot control most of his movements. The reason for such a diagnosis is often abnormal intrauterine development, childbirth with complications, birth hypoxia or asphyxia, as well as endocrine or infectious diseases suffered by the mother of a sick baby during pregnancy. Children with cerebral palsy later begin to hold their heads, roll over from their backs to their stomachs, sit, walk. Too many of them are unable to walk, already in their adult stage.
But there is one positive thing in this whole sad story: cerebral palsy is not a sentence. There are a lot of various methods, therapeutic measures, various medical methods that contribute to the partial restoration of the child's he alth and bring him closer to normal life.
Timely appeal of the parents of a child with cerebral palsy to a neurologist for advice can contribute to their earlier intervention in the course of the disease process and the rehabilitation of the deplorable state of he alth of the baby through the implementation of certain procedures. not standing onplace medicine offers all kinds of ways to improve the well-being of a child with this diagnosis in the form of massages, therapeutic exercises, classes on special simulators, physiotherapy, magnetotherapy, electroreflexotherapy, Bobath therapy, the Voight method, classes with speech therapists and psychologists, the use of auxiliary equipment. And not the last place in this chain is occupied by therapeutic physical culture (exercise therapy) for cerebral palsy.
Therapeutic physical culture
It's no secret that sport is the key to a he althy body and a he althy mind. Sports give a person the opportunity to actively spend time on the move, develop all muscle groups, get a boost of energy and vigor, give their body aesthetically beautiful curves and shapes, keep themselves in a good mood and high spirits. You can endlessly list the benefits of playing sports, as well as name all kinds of sports activities. But a special place in this list should be given to physical therapy.
Exercise therapy is a complex of special therapeutic techniques with the use of physical exercises that help improve the condition and partially restore the he alth of patients and the disabled, as well as used as a prophylaxis against possible diseases. Physiotherapy itself is considered a medical discipline with pedagogical features, since it is not only the performance of isolated physical exercises, but also the education in the patient of self-confidence and confidence that success will come and he althwill return. It is not surprising that as one of the rehabilitation methods in the case of children with cerebral palsy, it is precisely the set of exercise therapy exercises for cerebral palsy that is used. After all, the parents of an unfortunate baby are ready to do any activity, follow all possible gymnastic complexes and undergo all kinds of therapy just so that their child at least partly feels the joy of a full life.
The value of therapeutic exercises for cerebral palsy
What is the peculiarity of the influence of exercise therapy exercises in cerebral palsy? What causes remission of individual muscle groups in the body of a child affected by cerebral palsy? And how does the complex of exercise therapy for cerebral palsy work? To answer these questions, you need to understand what are the goals, objectives and principles of the method of physical therapy, which helps to rehabilitate the he alth lost by the baby in the prenatal, birth or postnatal period.
The main goal of exercise therapy for cerebral palsy in children is to develop the ability of voluntary inhibition of movements, as well as lowering muscle hypertonicity, improving motor coordination, and increasing amplitude movements in the joints. For children whose muscle activity is inhibited and does not allow them to function normally physically, this is a very important aspect of rehabilitation.
The tasks of the exercise therapy complex for cerebral palsy include several main areas:
- implementation of a restorative and healing effect on the body;
- help in restoring the he alth of the body;
- normalization of blood circulation and metabolismsubstances in the affected area;
- full or partial settlement of metabolic and neurovascular disorders;
- prevention of adhesions in the area between nearby tissues and nerve sheaths;
- replacement of already formed adhesions with the adaptability of tissues to such formations through special exercises;
- strengthening weak muscle tissue;
- development of coordination of movements;
- help in the fight against concomitant anomalies - curvature of the spine, impaired mobility, and so on.
And this list is not final. Methods of exercise therapy for cerebral palsy provide for the construction of a set of exercises on the principles of regularity, systematicity, continuity of classes, an individual approach to each patient, paying attention to his age and mental development, taking into account the severity and stage of the disease. All these aspects together predetermine a positive result from the procedures, which determines the importance of this kind of physical therapy for children with deviations of the nervous and mental systems.
Types of exercises
What are the main variations of exercise therapy exercises for cerebral palsy based on the rehabilitation of patients?
- Fixed position - a model of therapeutic exercise based on the fixation of limbs in a special splint or splint.
- Muscular stretching - involves swinging in all joints of the limbs with an amplitude of oscillation designed for a gradual increase.
- Muscle relaxation –provides for alternate fixation of arms and legs to reduce the number of involuntary movements carried out by a sick child, as well as weakening the increased tone.
- Walking - makes it possible to develop the motor apparatus for higher possibilities in movement.
- Exercises with stimulation of muscle activity and muscle inhibition - are alternate flexion-extension of the joints with parallel muscle massage.
- Incline climbing - performed with an instructor and gives you the opportunity to train, as far as possible, the abs and leg muscles, keep balance and maintain balance.
- Endurance exercises.
Exercise therapy to activate the motor apparatus
In the complex of exercise therapy exercises for children with cerebral palsy, priority exercises are provided for the most important area of rehabilitation - the motor apparatus. Indeed, many children with cerebral palsy are not able to walk, they need help, they need to be taught this. In cases where the central or peripheral nervous system is damaged, there may be a problem with the movement of the upper or lower extremities. This problem is referred to in medicine as tetraparesis. In order to strengthen the motor and coordination skills of children with disabilities, as well as increase their degree of control over their own actions, appropriate gymnastic exercises are provided.
- In the starting position, sitting on his heels, the baby tries to kneel under the influence of the instructor's movements (orparent) who takes the child by the shoulders, holding him parallel at the hip.
- Sitting on his knees, under the influence of the movements of an adult who holds him in the axillary zone, the child begins to move from side to side in order to be able to transfer his body weight on one leg. At the same time, the baby tries to tear off the second leg from the support itself, spreading its arms to the sides.
- Turning to face a small patient with cerebral palsy sitting on a chair, an exercise therapy instructor in the person of a specialist or a parent fixes his legs on the floor with his own and gently takes him by the handles. At the same time, the hands are pulled forward and up to give the child the opportunity to learn to stand up on his own.
- In the initial standing position, the child's feet are placed with their feet to each other in one line one by one, the adult's hands are lightly pushed first in the back, then in the chest - this is how the baby develops the concept of maintaining balance.
- In a similar initial position, you need to try to swing the child to the sides so that he tries to take a step on his own.
Similar exercise therapy exercises for children with cerebral palsy can increase the baby's motor activity and give him a chance to learn to walk.
Exercise therapy for the study of joints
It is equally important to teach the child to control his movements and strengthen his joints. The peculiarity of this moment lies in the fact that children with cerebral palsy are characterized by pain in the joints, convulsive pain and related pathologies. To develop the joints of the limbs, you needpay attention to a number of exercise therapy exercises aimed at strengthening them in cerebral palsy.
- The starting position of the child is lying on his back. One leg unbends and is fixed by an adult under its own weight of the body or under the support of the arm, and the second gradually bends at the knee. At the same time, the thigh is pressed against the stomach as much as possible, after which it is smoothly retracted back to its original position.
- The starting position of the baby is lying on its side. The knee is kept bent, the hip is alternately retracted, then returned to its original position.
- The primary position of the body is standing facing the table right next to it. It is necessary to lean the stomach against it so that the legs hang freely, after which alternately straighten them, straightening the knees, then return them to a suspended state.
- Lying on his back, the child, with the help of an adult, bends the leg at the knee, after which, if possible, straightens it as evenly as possible.
- Putting a child with cerebral palsy on his stomach, an adult or instructor puts a roller under his chest, after which, holding the baby by the arms, lifts the upper part of his body, abruptly and springily making movements up and down.
- The starting position of the baby is lying on his back. The arms are bent at the elbow so that the face remains motionless and turned to the side. After that, an adult helps to bend the child's limb, turning his head in the other direction.
Exercise for stretching
A set of exercise therapy exercises for children with cerebral palsy for stretching also helps to increase flexibility. It allows you to reduce the levelthe severity of the pathological condition of the back and spine, improves the condition of the affected spinal cord, as well as its nerve endings. Moreover, this kind of exercise therapy for children with cerebral palsy allows you to strengthen the muscles of the limbs, which, of course, affects more confident movements of the arms and legs.
- The child should be seated in the starting position on the floor so that the legs are straightened, and the torso, along with them, creates a right angle and is perpendicular to the floor. Exhaling, the baby should try to bend down so that he can reach his toes with his fingers. At the same time, the help of an exercise therapy instructor for children with cerebral palsy in this exercise is that he helps to lower the body even lower, making gentle pressure on the back so that the child’s forehead also touches the legs.
- Being in the prone position, the child stretches his arms along the body. Then he turns his hands to the floor and focuses on them. Gradually resting on his hands and raising his chest above the floor level, the baby trains the stretching of the biceps muscles, imitating push-ups of a he althy person. An adult should ensure that the child does not throw back his head, and that his breathing is calm, even.
- The next exercise is reminiscent of the lower press with legs thrown back in the complex of exercises for a he althy person. Starting position - a child with cerebral palsy lies on his back, arms extended along the body. On the count of “one,” he slowly and smoothly raises his straight legs above his head and brings them up behind his head, touching the floor above his crown with his toes and not bending them intoknees, at the expense of "two" returns them just as slowly to their original position. Throughout the exercise, an adult controls the process and makes sure that the hands do not come off the floor.
- Starting position - sitting on the floor with legs apart. The first movement is the bending of the right leg so that its heel touches the inner thigh of the left leg, the second movement is the approach of the foot of the left leg to the knee joint of the right leg. After carrying out these manipulations, the movement of the right hand to the left knee is carried out in a girth with the support of the left leg, and the movement of the left hand moves it to the opposite side of the waist behind the back. The adult turns the child's head to the left and tilts it so that the chin touches the left shoulder. At the same time, the right knee constantly remains in a position pressed to the floor.
Such a set of exercise therapy exercises for children with cerebral palsy, when performed regularly every day, contributes to a significant improvement in the condition of a small patient. Such remedial gymnastics is especially effective in the case when it is carried out at an early stage of the child's growing up. And the sooner the better.
Exercise for relaxation
It is noteworthy that exercises in exercise therapy for cerebral palsy in adults, as well as in children, contribute to the rehabilitation process. But in adults, this happens much more slowly than in children, since the children's body is much more malleable. Therefore, it is impossible to delay with exercise therapy for cerebral palsy in children.
Because a common symptom of cerebral palsy is severe muscle hypertonicity, medicinethere are special exercises to relax them.
- In order for the arms and legs of a sick child to rest, he needs to lie on his back on the floor, after which the limbs on one side should be fixed in a stationary state, while using weighting agents that can be built from sandbags.
- The free arm on the other side of the body should be bent at the elbow, while his forearm helps him to hold the adult conducting therapeutic exercises. The arm remains in this position until a decrease in muscle tone is felt. After that, the adult helps the child shake the hand, periodically bending it, rotating it and moving it from side to side.
- Do the same with the leg. While the fixed limbs of one side touch the child's stomach, an adult helps him hold his shins and move his legs in the hip joint so as to be able to make circular movements to stretch the muscles of the leg. Accordingly, the legs alternate alternately.
Exercise for breathing
The exercise therapy system for cerebral palsy provides for a remission process only if they are performed regularly. The schedule of the training program should include activities in the patient's leisure time daily, day after day. Only regular gymnastics and constant exercises will be able to return the physiology of a sick child to a more or less acceptable form. Therefore, it is impossible to neglect the daily frequency of complex therapy for cerebral palsy.
Among other things, exercise therapy for cerebral palsy also provides for the ability to correctlybreathe.
- An adult shows the child how to take the correct deep breath in and out through both the mouth and the nose. To do this, you can use auxiliary equipment in the form of balls, rubber toys, soap bubbles.
- The instructor pronounces vowel sounds, either lowering or raising the volume of his voice. The child must repeat after him. You can alternate this exercise with singing or playing the brass.
- A standard exercise to restore the respiratory process is to raise your arms above your head and fill your lungs with air when inhaling with a full chest, as well as lowering your arms as you exhale. You can complicate the exercise by using part of the exhalation with immersion of the patient's head in water.
Many schemes of work in exercise therapy with cerebral palsy were developed by medical workers of various institutions of the corresponding nature throughout the Russian Federation. One of these can be considered the Samara rehabilitation children's center "Utenok". Here, children with various diseases, including cerebral palsy, are received. So, a physical therapy coach and a child with cerebral palsy in Samara can perfectly find a common language for spending time together in one of the two pools, for therapeutic massage, physiotherapy exercises, hydromassage, herbal aromatherapy, educational games on the water.
exercise therapy in game exercises
As mentioned earlier, the training program for children with cerebral palsy should include the work of an adult with a child every day, all seven days a week. But apart from that, you needtake into account the rationality of the applied loads, because the child must also rest. The calculation of the loads taken as a basis in the exercise therapy complex for children with cerebral palsy should be based on the age factor, body weight and height of the sick child. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the degree of the affected psyche and physiology, because cerebral palsy itself includes a huge number of varieties with varying degrees of severity. The more neglected the case, the more frequent and assertive the training should be, but they should be performed with the utmost care and only with a representative of medicine. At the same time, massage in exercise therapy for cerebral palsy is also suitable for some of the children, and water procedures are also suitable for some - everything is very individual here, depending on the specific case of the course of the disease.
Many children like the game method of working with instructors. Game exercises in exercise therapy for cerebral palsy provide not only the effectiveness and efficiency of the process, but also allow you to interest the child and give him the opportunity to relax. In this case, specific auxiliary equipment can be used in the form of devices supporting the patient on his feet, all kinds of fitballs, soft modules, pillows and other equipment. What games can be included here?
- "Tower Destruction" - the game provides for a heap of soft game devices and circles one on top of the other in imitation of building a tower structure. At the same time, an adult can help a child build such a building, and he must destroy it himself - this is the main goal of the game, to learn how to make efforts in order tobreak through the "cushion" defense of the illusory tower.
- "Get out of the rubble" - such a game exercise also involves the child's use of effort, only now not in the running "attack on the tower", but in a lying position with blockages from pillows. The goal of the child is to get out of the simulated rubble.
- Jackknife is a great stretching and flexibility game for a child with cerebral palsy. Its essence lies in the fact that the child plays the role of a folded knife when he takes the position of an “embryo” on the floor and wraps his arms around his legs bent at the knees. At the count of “one”, the knife opens - the child stretches his legs and arms as far apart as possible and remains so lying on his side until at the count of “two” he does not need to return to his original position. The exercise is done at a moderate pace.
- "Sausage" - a funny game with the initial position lying on your back on the floor. An adult in the face of a parent or instructor takes the crumbs by the ankles, gently turning him by the legs, as if by levers, now in one direction, then in the other. At the same time, the pace gradually increases.
Many different play procedures and physical therapy exercises can be cited as an example - they are all aimed at only one result. This result is a partial recovery of the baby. Partially because the defeat of human he alth with cerebral palsy occurs not only in terms of physical disorders, but also psychological. Alas, it is impossible to influence human psychology with therapeutic exercises to the extent that the body requires it.
