On ABR and beyond...

Mind-Blowing Freaking Miracle... Pelvis Transformation in Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy

Usually I am quite reserved in progress descriptions that kids achieve with ABR – trying to avoid the hype and over-expectations. Typically I am more keen on outlining the specifics of the challenges that lie ahead rather than celebrating the achievements already made. And often enough parents find this style not the most motivating … but that’s the way I see the world:  whatever has been achieved as of today is already part of the past – so, let’s try to focus on the next step forwards…

By telling you this I just want to draw a bit of extra attention to what I am about to share with you today… because this time it is different… and even I cannot contain emotions … because it is indeed – a mind-blowing freaking  unbelievable miracle!

Well, I hope that I have your attention now :-)

… and probably you think that I am going to demonstrate a quadriplegic  child who miraculously went from horizontal incapacitation to running around and jumping on a single leg? – Sorry, not this time…

This type of stuff – “a developmental airlift “, or a “developmental helicopter ride”, that allows to skip phases of development – is cut of heavenly cloth. I am much more earth-bound.

Nonetheless the transformation that I am about to share with you counts on a scale of miracle as long as we stay earth-bound and realistic.

What I am going to demonstrate is an exceptionally rapid structural transformation of a classic distorted and merged quadriplegic pelvis following the “egg” work…

Let’s proceed to the video to have the entire case well illustrated…

I hope that I have managed to get you excited enough to sit through a 35 minute video…

First I wanted to charge straight through to the comparison of before and after – but afterwards decided that it is going to be of greater educational value for you to have it done in 3 parts:

• Normal pelvis structure and X-ray
• Typical pelvis of a child with quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy that ends up under the knife of an orthopedic surgeon with a massive intervention (bone cutting, metal screws insertion etc.)
• The “mind blowing freaking miracle” – amazing transformation of the pelvic structure in a severe spastic quadriplegic child following the “egg” rolling work delivered by the ABR superstar man – Alexander “The Great “from Greece :-)

And all that leads to a not so subtle hint – your child’s future is in YOUR HANDS – but these hands have to be skillful to extract the full potential that ABR work has for your child… – so you need to study and practice and pay attention to detail without rushing to “I got it –can I go home earlier?”

 

P.S. I am going to add a couple of final episodes to the previous video – “Cerebral Palsy and fascia science in a tea cup” – and I hope are going to appreciate the connection that my tea cup simple example of the relationship between a dense film-like membrane and porous underlying gel has with the specifics of skeletal transformations in Cerebral Palsy pelvis…

 

P.P.S. Comments and likes are most appreciated.

 

Fascia Course -- positives abound

My apologies for the interruption in the information flow from the Fascia Research course but things were too intense for the last few days.

Wednesday – the get-together dinner and then I needed time to prepare what was called a ‘Participant Presentation. I titled mine “Myofascial Paradoxes in Cerebral Palsy” and, frankly, did not really know what reaction to expect. Many of the hands-on practitioners such as osteopaths, Rolfers etc. do work periodically with CP kids, and those who attended this Fascia Research are among the leaders and innovators in their fields, so there was always a possibility of professional ego ‘clashes’ etc.

I’ve seen this in the past – especially at the Cerebral Palsy conference –some, say PTs, have a quick look at our comparison pictures, give you a nod, but then would either start bragging about their own ‘amazing results’ or would go along the lines: “It’s just an anecdote and fluke anyway…” or “Look at the foot – it is still spastic” and so on, basically trying on a ‘judge’s robe’ of a “mainstream expert” towards the lowly “alternatives”.

Things were completely different with the Fascia Research Course crowd. The moment I introduced and illustrated the concept of ‘Compressional Weakness’ – I had genuine focused attention, even though we were at the end of extremely intense learning week, just hours before going home. Seeing the pics like those:

Before ABR -Sitting Challenges in a Quadriplegic CP - Fundamental Analysis

FULL VERSION: Before ABR -Sitting Challenges in a Quadriplegic CP - Fundamental Analysis.

Well, finally we have a chance to zoom in -- from the overviews, which are no doubt, -- inspirational to the educationally meaningful substance -- the actual analysis.

This video is 20 min long and it goes over all the typical manifestations of poor segmentation as well as re-iterating and illustrating the discussion about the support level evolution in sitting.

There is another important component that I did not emphasize enough before but certainly do now -- that's the connection between the suspended arm support and the proper ground reaction support. The two are inversely related, which gives an important prognostic tool of progress even when facing some transitional challenges -- sure better understanding of such a link will emerge after the next video -- Stage 1 of progress that I will describe in details in a few days.

Meanwhile, I believe I need to emphasize one important aspect -- some of you, although inspired by a progress of this particular quadriplegic boy, have difficulties in connecting/ relating to this particular example telling yourself: "My son is much older" or "My daughter is floppy" and so on. Yes, to certain extent you are correct, -- there are nuances and specifics between ages, types and so on. And you'd know that I am the person who is extremely detail and finesse oriented -- usually I bore everyone to a state of being drowsy by digging into yet further case specifics under the bright lights that make your eyelids close involuntary :-) .. However, I'd like you to think about these videos in a truly educational context -- looking at the elementary building blocks of the large "cerebral palsy" problem. Cerebral Palsy is a disorder of posture and movement -- tangible physical aspects that depend on the mechanics of the elements -- the building blocks, These elementary components are pretty much the same -- spasticity, rigidity, instability, lack of segmentation, inability for counterbalancing and so on... They are very much the same whether it is a younger or an older child; a boy or a girl; spastic or flaccid or athetoid; milder or less severe and so on. For sure, these elementary problems come in different combinations and in different magnitude depending on the type of cerebral palsy or specifics of developmental challenges. Nonetheless, the better a parent knows the elementary blocks -- the better understanding of the larger jigsaw puzzle becomes possible otherwise everything blurs -- emotional; physical; quantitative and qualitative ... -- bringing stress.

That's exactly the case where knowledge is power -- because you , my friends, have the rest -- love, dedication and a selfless desire to help your kids... That's why I'll keep encouraging you to learn...

Thanks for reading ... please stay focused -- there is a pretty long video coming .... :-)

P.S. By the way -- for those of you who have challenges with a streaming video -- please go ahead and download them -- that will save you the discomfort of unexpected frozen frames etc.

SITTING Progress & Evolution Overview in a Spastic Quadriplegic Boy

If the previous video "Motor Development  Progress  ... Cerebral Palsy Quadriplegic Child"  -- http://www.vimeo.com/6671771 -- was more inspirational than educational  this video "Sitting progress in a Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy" has already much more of an educational value .

The case of this quadriplegic spastic boy is so classic that each and every parent of a child with cerebral palsy will find important illustrations and clarifications:

• Levels of support in sitting - evolution from high to low
• Specifics of tailor sitting
• Suspended support by the arms -- 1 handed support and 2 handed
• Sitting platform configuration
• Segmentation and selective mobility between the head, shoulder girdle, pelvis

I am very much aware-- you have already heard it from me and probably  telling yourself : "I know, I know , I know..." but nonetheless I do recommend you to watch it and visualize these stages because the better you visualize them on the examples of the other brain injured kids the more meaningful specifics you will be able to notice in yours.

And that's the key for your own motivation, piece of mind and confidence-- your ability to notice the increments of improvements in your own child.

I want to emphasize once more -- We are posting these Progress Overview videos with an educational and not a promotional purpose. The goal is not say: "Look what a wonderful progress with ABR in just 2 years of work..." That would be a wrong message because some children respond slower and some faster, some parents have more opportunities for the ABR homework and some have less. These are realities and I do not want you to be stressed and ask yourself 'Have we achieved as much or less or more in 2 years?' I would much prefer you to focus on the stages of transformations that, for example, this quadriplegic boy had through ABR because these stages are very much typical. Therefore, even if different children respond at different rate -- the fundamentals and stages are very much the same.

And another really important aspect -- these changes are not accidental, the progress of this Qudariplegic boy, GMFCS Level 5, is not a fluke -- it's a result of systematic transitions that were methodically addressed through  Advanced Biomechanical Rehabilitation.

That's why – I am really trying my best to pre-warm you about the oncoming videos which analyze in details each of the stages of progress during 2 years of Advanced Biomechanical Rehabilitation --sitting, hand functions, crawling.

Please look at it as an illustrated textbook intended to enhance your knowledge not as see-and-forget promotional videos. That's why I will encourage you to return back to these videos several times and ideally even show them to some of your friends and family, -- watch their reaction, look at their level of understanding and try to clarify things for them. Become an educator yourself -- for one selfish reason: there is no better way to learn yourself than by teaching the others. 

Motor Development through ABR -- Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy Boy Case Study

I've been thinking for a while on a presentation format of key ideas of ABR that will be of the most educational value. Apparently it's not as easy as it sounds. There are quite a few challenges.

A number of parents do not want to go beyond a quick before/after loking for just enough to feed the imagination as a "miracle progress in cerebral palsy treatment'. Obviously, at ABR -- even though we are actually the only cerebral palsy rehabilitation method who do have systematic before/after progress reports for brain injured kids -- we want to avoid encouraging the 'quick wow super progress' seekers. But at the same time -- my theoretical rants even when they are perfectly relevant like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSok3q_jmsU -- often seem to be not clicking...

Unfortunately... :-( Since I do believe firmly that the proper MINDSET is more important to success than Skillset or let alone Toolset...

So I was looking for the other avenues and then decide to do it in a Case Study form -- to just take a more or less typical case with a typical progress rate and explain the stages with illustrations of key motor functions: sitting, crawling, fine skills of a hand. The hint came from a strange fact that all of us at ABR Teams worldwide have been observing for a while: Every parent of a special needs child sees the progress a lot more readily in another  special kid. I guess, it's the emotional bond to your own one that  blurs everything together -- not allowing to concentrate on studying and recognizing the stages essential for any case of cerebral palsy, spasticity etc. ;

That's why I decided to try this new format -- taking a single case and illustrate the universal truths for any child with a brain injury. I started from a spastic quadriplegic case as the most typical for us -- but, sure, there will be other types as well:  flaccid; athetoid; hemiplegic etc.

I hope this avenue will work better -- but obviously the ultimate judges are the 'collective you' : I'll only know whether this avenue is worth pursuing further if you give me the feedback through your comments and mails.

Altogether -- there are 28 videos (10 min to 30 min long) -- 1 General Progress Overview; 3 x 1 = Progress overviews for each of the domains: Sitting, Hand Function; Crawling; and another 4-5 videos per domain covering the transitions from the initial condition before ABR and then the changes every several months. All in all -- the period covered is 24 months.

I've learned from my mistakes (somewhat :-)) -- and I am not going to dump them all on you at once.

Right now you can watch 6 videos -- Motor Development Progress overview (Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy Boy Case Study) and 5 more videos zooming into the domain of sitting as the core representation of weight-bearing progress.

I am starting with the  first one:  Motor Development Progress Overview - Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy Child GMFCS 5 -- I will be posting the other ones with regular intervals and with extra comments.

I hope that avenue will prove educational and I am looking forwards for your response.

Thanks a lot.