The assessment of the effectiveness of the chosen methods of rehabilitation in children with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Introduction: Cerebral palsy is a great and serious medical problem. There are no effective ways of its treatment which is the main reason of constant research into successful therapeutical methods of rehabilitation. Nowadays, the rehabilitation is based on neurodevelopmental methods which are the most effective and friendly for children. Therefore, it is important to find an extensive approach towards the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy according to ICF (International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health) concepts and the Polish model of rehabilitation. The fundamental objective of rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy is to give them the possibility to live independently in the future. Material and methods: The research involved 10 children with cerebral palsy (including 4 girls and 6 boys) aged 5 - 8 years. The average weight for girls was 13,68 kg. and boys was 15,83 kg. The average height for all examined children was 104,25 cm. to 115,00 cm. In order to determine the effectiveness of the chosen rehabilitation methods (NDT Bobath, Sensory Integration, Halliwick, hippotherapy) as well as other supporting techniques (orthopaedic equipment, kinesiotaping, arm - chairs) to the condition of research children, the analysis of the therapeutic improvement process in the space of one year was carried out. The research method was based on the completed questionnaire as well as on the assessment of the psychomotor development according to Bobath. Results: In the examined group of children with CP, after one-year therapy, a significant improvement of the evaluated righting and balance reactions and skill abilities (p<0,05) were noticed which had a good influence on the emotions of these children. Conclusions: On the basis of the achieved results, one may advance the thesis about the justifiability of the use of the chosen methods and supporting techniques in rehabilitation of the patients with cerebral palsy.