01 Dec 🥺Does your child with Cerebral Palsy have elbow contractures that stops them from straightening their elbow? 🥴Does your child with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy walk with their affected arm hanging by their side?

The incidence of Cerebral Palsy is 2–3 per 1,000 live births.👶🏻 20% of children with Cerebral Palsy have Spastic Quadriplegia and 25% of children with Cerebral Palsy have Spastic Hemiplegia, where there is increased spasticity in their arm muscles. Prolonged muscle spasticity can result in contractures, where muscles become permanently shortened. Contractures can limit the flexibility and movement of joints, affecting the overall function of the arm.😳 Children with Spastic Cerebral Palsy may also experience muscle weakness. The combination of spasticity, weakness, and contractures can result in functional limitations in daily activities, such as dressing, eating, and writing.

Luckily there are strategies that can be implemented to help a child with Spastic Cerebral Palsy to improve their arm function. Here at My Favourite Physio, when our Expert Physiotherapists 🤓use the following 3 strategies to help reduce muscle contractures to the elbow and hand to improve elbow, wrist and hand range of movement and allow improved function in the affected arm.

💪1. Serial Casting to stretch shortened and tight arm muscles to increase the range of movement in the elbow, wrist and fingers.

💪2. Customised Bracing to maintain the muscle length achieved from Serial Casting so that a chlid can begin to learn to use their new range in their elbow, wrist and fingers for reaching, grasping and playing.

💪3. Functional Electrical Stimulation to activate muscles to assist a child when carrying out fine motor activities and tasks such as holding a bottle, holding a toy or learning to sit or crawl.

If you are concerned about your child’s hand function, reach out to My Favourite Physio 📱on (02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists today!

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