The Need for Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation Training

  Due to severe damage to some of the brain tissues that control movement, children with cerebral palsy suffer from muscle control disorders causing difficulties in body movement and postural difficulties. According to research, it is confirmed that pediatric cerebral palsy should be diagnosed and treated as early as possible. This treatment includes various means: rehabilitation, surgery and orthopedic treatment. Among them, rehabilitation is the most important and essential. Here, let’s analyze it in detail.  For children with cerebral palsy, although they suffer from the disease, they will continue to grow and develop like normal children, and the development of various parts of the brain will not stop.  Research has confirmed that as long as there are enough intact nerve cells in the brain to survive in addition to the damaged brain tissue, children with cerebral palsy can learn to deal with situations and problems in a different way through various rehabilitative exercises. These rehabilitation exercises include motor function training, sensory function training, balance function training, coordination function training, hand function training, cognitive function training, and language function training.  Of these, motor function training is the most commonly used and should be the first to begin. This is because motor function is the first to develop and is the basis for the development of other abilities. If a child has motor dysfunction, cannot roll over, and cannot move his limbs, how can he come into contact with the environment, recognize the environment, learn life experience, and learn cognition? The training of motor functions for children with cerebral palsy must be carried out according to the normal developmental pattern of children, i.e., the eight major functions of raising the head, turning over, sitting up, crawling, standing, walking, squatting and getting up and down steps, etc. The training should also be carried out according to the training principles from gross to fine, from top to bottom, from near to far, and from simple to complex.  In terms of correcting the abnormal posture present in children with cerebral palsy, rehabilitation training should be conducted through manipulation so that motor therapy and manual correction are organically combined. The motor rehabilitation training for cerebral palsy must be developed from the whole child, and the functional training of the limbs should be carried out according to the developmental program of the child’s motor function, and the rehabilitation teacher should make appropriate manipulations on the child’s body to achieve the purpose of functional recovery.  It is important to emphasize that in the process of rehabilitation training, children with cerebral palsy should not only passively receive various treatments such as medication, surgery, acupuncture, massage, etc., but should be the main subject of treatment and learn to correct incorrect posture and gait and learn to control body posture to complete life movements under the guidance and help of the rehabilitation teacher. The rehabilitator is only there to find and correct the poor posture of the child, and to guide and help them to successfully complete various training movements.  In the history of cerebral palsy treatment, there are many successful cases in which children with severe brain damage or even half of their brains removed have achieved satisfactory rehabilitation results after early training through a rehabilitation program designed by neurologists, child developmental doctors and rehabilitation doctors to promote brain development.