Physical therapy (PT) offers proven techniques to help children with cerebral palsy build strength, improve motor skills, and enhance their quality of life. At NAPA Center, our expert physical therapists work closely with each child to create personalized therapy plans, incorporating cerebral palsy exercises tailored to the child’s unique needs.
In this blog, we’ll explore the benefits of cerebral palsy physical therapy and highlight specialized tools, techniques, and exercises commonly used to treat children with cerebral palsy.
Children with cerebral palsy may experience muscle stiffness (hypertonia), weakness, or coordination challenges. Physical therapy helps address these concerns by:
Our goal is to support each child in gaining as much independence as possible, helping them participate fully in their everyday lives.
One of the innovative techniques we use in our pediatric physical therapy programs is whole body vibration, specifically the Galileo vibration plate. This technique helps “break up” or modulate muscle tone, especially for patients with hypertonia. This essentially provides feedback to the brain that can be interpreted appropriately and limits any of the signals for the increased muscle tone.
While on here, we can do more stationary positions to work more on tone modulation, or we can work on specific transitions or activities to be able to more appropriately utilize specific muscle groups and limit the amount that the child’s muscle tone may try to “help.” We may have a child sit, stand, or lie down on a vibration platform, depending on the muscles we’re targeting.
Most of our kids with cerebral palsy tend to find the most stability when they are in one stationary position. However, throughout our everyday activities, there’s constant movement and shifting that occurs whether to be comfortable or needing to grab a necessary item. Completing a weight shift requires muscle control and inherent balance reactions that are difficult for our children to multi-task with.
Practicing this in a controlled therapy setting, with whatever level of support is needed, is very helpful in giving children the opportunity to practice this necessary skill. Usually, you will see this play out as standing on a “squishy” or dynamic surface or the child standing on a platform that will move either side to side or forward and backward as they walk across.
Strengthening exercises are a core part of cerebral palsy physical therapy. We always want to incorporate some strengthening exercises either for the whole body or specific muscle groups to assist in a specific activity.
Usually, we will focus on the core (abdominals) and bottom (gluteal) muscles. When we work on strengthening the abdominals, that will assist with general balance and trunk/postural stability. When we work on strengthening the gluteal or bottom muscles, that will help with general pelvis stability when working on standing.
Because there is so much carryover between strengthening these abdominal and gluteal or bottom muscles and making some of the everyday tasks easier, these areas tend to be the focus. However, based on how the child presents and what their specific needs are, we may incorporate strengthening other muscles to help promote their specific goals.
It may be easy to think that with the increased tone in a specific muscle, that muscle must be strong. However, the utilization of that muscle is either all on or all off due to that tone, not the actual muscle strength. We may use neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) to these muscles that have the increased tone to be able to strengthen the muscle in what we call a mid-range type of motion, or what would be a more functional range.
Think of it this way: Say that you can do a squat, but it can only be really fast all the way down and then all the way up. That wouldn’t be very controlled, but if you were to do the same squat in that middle range, slow and controlled, we would consider that to show more strength compared to the first example. That same concept applies to our children when we are working on strengthening in that mid-range, and sometimes the NMES can help us achieve that ability.
In addition to the techniques mentioned above, NAPA Center offers other tools and techniques such as DMI, the NeuroSuit, Theratogs, and the SpiderCage. These specialized modalities provide different levels of support, helping with posture, alignment, and strength. We also use the intensive model of therapy, which delivers concentrated results over a short period, typically giving children a significant boost in their abilities.
At NAPA, we love incorporating parents into our weekly sessions as much as we can so that you can take home one to two exercises to work on throughout the week to keep your child’s progression moving forward. We love to problem-solve with our parents on how to make various activities easy to complete at home and find a fun way to make it part of your daily routine so that exercise becomes fun and enjoyable. The more fun it is, the easier it is to complete at home, and the more new and different activities we can complete here!
NAPA Center was founded because of one mother’s mission to find the best therapies for her son, Cody, who has cerebral palsy. Her journey led her around the world in search of innovative treatments, and she brought them all together under one roof—creating a place where families can access cutting-edge therapies tailored to their child’s needs. Read Cody’s Story here.
NAPA Center is a world-renowned pediatric therapy clinic specializing in treating children with cerebral palsy at our clinics located throughout the U.S., Australia, and the U.K.. NAPA is committed to helping children lead their most fulfilling lives by providing the best and most innovative pediatric therapy methods from around the world, all under one roof. If your child needs our services, we will work closely with you to select the best therapies for them, creating a customized program specific to your child’s needs and your family’s goals.
Interested in bringing your child to NAPA for weekly or intensive therapy? Book a complimentary phone screening with one of our therapists to learn more and hear our personalized therapy recommendations for your child. Welcome to the NAPA Family!
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Kayla Darden PT, DPT always had a heart for working with kids and loves figuring out the best way to motivate the little ones! When not at the clinic, she is either reading a book, snuggling with her cats, or trying a new cooking recipe with her husband.
