Core Support Options

As I have discussed last week, every pediatric therapy intervention that I am aware of aims, in part, to strengthen the core. And the exercises used should strengthen the core. The sad truth is that in most cases, the exercises are ineffective. The reason is that they are not done enough times every day. In order to properly strengthen the [...]

Movement Starts With The Core

The overwhelming majority of small babies with damaged brains have perfectly normal posture during sleep. When they are awake and attentive, looking at you, but not moving, they are similarly normal. The abnormal signaling from their brains is only evident when you move them or later when they try to move spontaneously. A normal child gains head control first, then [...]

Calling All Outliers

In the community of people who are affected by cerebral palsy or brachial plexus injury, there are some children who recover completely. The majority do not. Why? Obviously the amount of initial damage will influence the outcome, but we all know that some children with really big injuries do recover. It is time to study these Outliers to find out [...]

Ready for School? Provide Film to Teachers

Parents and therapists can help a child with a disability get off to a great start to the new school year by getting out their cameras or smart phones and “catching them doing it right”. First impressions are important in every business and social interaction. This truth also applies to the early interactions of a child with their teachers or [...]

Challenge the Brain to Change the Habit

The abnormal gait of a child with cerebral palsy is the gait that has been hard wired into the child’s brain by use. In Psych 101 at McGill University, D.O. Hebb taught me that “Neurons that fire together, wire together”. The child’s gait may look abnormal to us, but it feels normal to the child. It has become the child’s [...]

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell – New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008

Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite writers. Each of his books has taught me to see the world in a slightly different way. Four years after my first reading of the Outliers, I am happy to add it to my list of Great Reads. Parents and healthcare workers should read this book. This quote is from www.gladwell.com “My wish [...]

CrossFit Training – A Surprising Therapy for Cerebral Palsy

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program used by police tactical operations teams, military special operations and elite athletes. It is fair to say that CrossFit is not a technique routinely used by teens and adults with a neurological problem. However, as Coach Greg Glassman writes, “The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for [...]

How to Uncover Recovery Hidden by Habits

Uncovering brain recovery in children with cerebral palsy is not difficult, but it does require that you look at a child’s performance in a different way. As a doctor, I have been trained to evaluate what is wrong with a child’s movement and to determine what they find difficult to do so that I can help them achieve a higher [...]

What is the Diagnosis?

Christine was born with choreoathetosis, a particularly disabling form of cerebral palsy. Christine, as an adult, has developed a wicked forehand volley. This is one of the most difficult strokes in the game of tennis. Many of her ground strokes are picture perfect. What then is her diagnosis? She has all the signs and symptoms of choreoathetosis during a routine [...]

The Boy Who Could Run Better Than He Could Walk

All baby brains have the potential to recover to some extent and some may be cured completely. (Baby Brains Can Recover – Pediatric Neuroplasticity) What about the child who does not recover completely? Common wisdom is that once the diagnosis of cerebral palsy is determined, the child will have it for life. It is incurable. Very few people think there [...]

Moving from Deep Water Jogging to Land

In previous posts, I have discussed deep water jogging as a simple approach to achieving a gravity free environment for gait training. This type of water exercise can be done as a family activity that allows even a child with a major degree of impairment to participate and have fun. (Independence for My Daughter) It may take 2 to 3 [...]

Water Exercise Results in an Adult with Cerebral Palsy

Christine Rouse is an accomplished young woman who has a type of cerebral palsy called choreoathetosis. All four limbs are involved with uncontrolled movements that affect her ability in all areas. Her speech has been a challenge, particularly as she is highly intelligent and interested in communicating with people. She was diagnosed at an early age and had years of [...]

Deep Water Jogging for Gait Training

Children with an early neurological problem learn their first movements with a damaged nervous system. Baby brains do recover, but it takes time. It is difficult to study the process of brain recovery in a baby because their brains are also very immature. A newborn uses less than 10% of their adult brain. By age 3 years, the amount of [...]