Cerebral Palsy (CP)

Underground S&C Underground
1

Hi all,

I have a 2 year old nephew that has a mild form of Cerebral Palsy (CP) in his legs. His legs are pretty much always tight and flexed. Right now, he is focusing on doing a lot squats to strengthen his legs, stretches to loosen his legs and hips. He spends lot of his time practicing basic movements such as moving forward, sidewards and turning 90 degrees.

I was wondering if anyone here has some advice, suggestion and experience to share in regards to CP, strengthening and loosening the legs and good exercises to develop overall gross boy movements.Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

2

Would something like yoga help? Wikipedia seems to suggest some people use yoga to help combat the excessive muscle stiffness.

I hope you are able to find some answers, good luck.

Also, if you haven't yet, it might help to make some threads on the UG or OG (greater traffic means a greater chance of somebody with personal experience coming across it).

If people give you grief about being "on topic" on the UG, just tag something about wanting to give him a chance to study MMA when he's older by minimizing his symptoms now.

3

I wish your nephew good luck, I have a friend who is a massage theropist who massages people with CP with good success..

4

Thanks for the feedback and kind words.

I will take this thread to the other forums and give it a shot.

Cheers

5

My son is 5 and has CP. It affects his left side, more the arm than the leg. We do some assisted handstands and wheelbarrow walks and star jumps to develop his ability to co-ordinate movement on both sides of his body. He also wears a brace to keep his foot from flexing too much.

Recently he has been having some chiro treatment that seems to have had some benefit. He has also had Botox treatment in the calf with good results.

Just being active and having fun comes naturally for most kids, but I sometimes find just giving him encouragement to get involved is the key.

Squats, lunges, jumps and movement work will help confidence as well as motor skills.

Keep up the good work.

6

Thanks for the Paul and Stevo.

My nephew is also suffering it more on his left side of his body with it being more in his legs and mildly in his arms. He wears an eye-patch for an hour a day to help strengthen his left eye. He has braces for his legs to help to correct the in flexing of his feet.

He did have acupuncture for awhile, but it freaked him out, so they stopped doing it. They have mentioned about getting Botox done. They are moving to the states to have surgery on his spine, apparently the doctor has had 100% success rate.

She trains her son twice a day. I think she trains him harder than I did when I was in Thailand lol.

I am more concerned over the mental welfare of my sister, as she is very pessimistic, and I am worried about the effect it will have on my nephew’s mindset. She has had a lot of stress over the past few years. I think she is so caught up in his physical problems that she will end up harming his self-esteem.

Thanks once again.