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Cerebral Palsy - Back to News Menu
Children's expands cerebral palsy therapy
Russian suit helps patients to strengthen muscles
ANNA VELASCO
News staff writer
December 16, 2005 - For a person with cerebral palsy, just sitting up or walking can be an athletic challenge. Muscles are weak, tight or spastic, making alignment of the body for proper movement difficult.
Children's Hospital has just bought six suits developed from Russian technology that help children with cerebral palsy strengthen their muscles and develop proper movement. Some even learn to walk after intensive therapy with the "Adeli Suit."
Making Strides, an Alabama charity dedicated to providing intensive therapy to children with cerebral palsy, gave Children's Hospital $15,000 Thursday to pay for the suits and for training the past two weeks to teach therapists how to use them. The gift allowed Children's Hospital to fly over a Russian doctor who specializes in use of the Adeli Suit.
The charity plans another $20,000 donation to Children's Hospital early next year to buy more suits, at $2,500 each, and to help equip another therapy site at Children's South off Interstate 459, in addition to the hospital therapy department.
Children's started intensive cerebral palsy therapy in 2004 with the help from an initial $15,000 gift from Making Strides. The hospital has provided the three-week, four-hour-daily therapy for 20 patients since then. Therapists used a suit similar to the Adeli and other types of exercises.
"We've seen kids come in not being able to walk and leave being able to," said Lisa Steed, a physical therapist at Children's.
But those sessions have been limited because of staff and equipment constraints. The training these last two weeks has increased to 12 the number of therapists trained in the intensive techniques, up from four. Children's said it hopes to give as many as 50 children next year the chance for intensive therapy including use of the Adeli suit.
Making Strides:
The suit - which hospital officials said is much better than a similar product Children's has used - was designed in Russia originally as a device to help the cosmonauts adjust to low-gravity conditions in space. In the early 1990s, it was developed as a therapy tool for children with cerebral palsy and other motor problems.
It has a halter top and shorts connected by straps and small bungee cords that can be pulled in different directions according to each child's disability. The cords also can be attached to other parts of the body to produce proper body alignment and muscle use.
"It straightens up your posture," said Sheree York, director of physical and occupational therapy at Children's Hospital. "It gives you the feeling of muscles pulling the way they should so you can move properly."
After intensive therapy with the suits, the brain trains the muscles to remember the correct way to move, said Dr. Matvey Martyanov, of Russia, where the suits are part of standard therapy for cerebral palsy patients.
Not all will be able to walk after the therapy, but all patients should develop more physical endurance and better mobility.
Jerry and Phyllis Templeton founded Making Strides after they saw the improvement their two 10-year-old daughters made in other intensive therapy programs out of state. One has since learned to walk and another has gotten much stronger, although she is mostly restricted to a wheelchair, Jerry Templeton said.
"We have never focused on walking," he said. "It's about that child reaching the best level they can."
E-mail: avelasco@bhamnews.com
Adeli Suit
The Adeli Suit is a cerebral palsy therapy pressurized device specially designed to correct the patient’s posture and movements. Its purpose is to adjust the course of the muscles as close as possible to how they would have moved if they had functioned naturally. By doing so, it also affects the brain’s damaged centers responsible for motor and speech control.
The suit is essentially a set of supporting units in the form of shoulder pads (or a vest), a wide waist belt (or shorts), knee pads and shoes.
The supporting units of the suit are connected with each other through a system of adjustable elastic ties. The ties are positioned like the antagonist muscles (flexors and extensors) and the muscles responsible for rotating and other movements. It is possible to add another set of ties to correct the alignment of the feet, the shoulder girdle and so on. Each of the ties is adjustable, so that the body and the legs can be loaded axially within 15 to 40 kg. The adjustable ties also make it possible to vary the patient’s posture and the position of his or her limbs. More specifically, it is possible to preset the initial angles in the major joints and bend and unbend the trunk.
So, the suit acts as an elastic outer framework. It holds the physiologically correct posture and adjusts the course of movements. What is important is that it does not limit the voluntary movements of the patient, but it does require more effort to create desired movement. The instructor controls the level of load, depending on form of disorder, nature and degree of damage of the movement apparatus, the patient'’ age and general condition and other objective and subjective factors.
Each suit is individually adapted to fit the patient’s height. Five standard sizes are available to cater for patients aged from three years onward and from 86 cm to 160 cm tall.
In addition, some special extra appliances may be attached to meet a patient’s individual biomechanical requirements. In some forms of cerebral palsy, a cap connected to the shoulder supporters with adjustable elastic ties may be used to steady the patient’s head in its natural position. In others, special reclining devices are used to correct the patient’s bearing. It is also possible to add more load on the upper extremities by connecting elbow or wrist pads to the main supporting system.
- From http://www.adeli-suit.com/English/adeli_suite.htm
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