Patient's question:
My daughter is two and a half years old. She was born with asphyxia and had two bruises on her head. Now she cannot speak and walks unsteadily. She has also had a few episodes of seizures.Doctor's answer:
Hello: Before treatment, it is necessary to assess the motor function of children with cerebral palsy. In addition to the conventional rehabilitation assessment (100 assessment items), an evaluation should also be conducted according to the Child Motor Function Development Program. This approach includes assessing initial reflexes and automatic responses, as well as evaluating stages based on motor development milestones.Scissor gait and foot drop are two common clinical signs in children with cerebral palsy. These signs are caused by three main factors: first, the persistence of primitive reflexes without the establishment of normal reflexes; second, abnormal muscle contractions; and third, muscle contractures.
In a relaxed state, scissor gait and foot drop can be corrected. When these signs appear during movement, they are typically caused by abnormal muscle contractions. Manual correction during training usually yields effective results. If scissor gait and foot drop persist even in a relaxed or moving state, this indicates the disappearance of primitive reflexes. However, if these signs remain prominent even in a relaxed state and do not improve with activity, it suggests muscle contractures. In such cases, the promotion meridian massage method should be used for correction.
A child with good sitting balance who can crawl and roll over may achieve independent walking within three months if they follow the doctor's treatment. The process of walking involves two stages: the first stage is initiating steps, where the child can walk 20–50 meters with good stride length and balance under support. The second stage is correcting posture, which is more challenging and requires good overall foundational functions (including control and coordination) to allow the child to perform well in terms of stride width, step count, and gait. At this stage, the child should be able to climb stairs (15 cm high). This stage requires a longer duration and is prone to setbacks, so each movement must be practiced repeatedly.
A daily massage of 20 minutes using the joint shaking method (as traditional Chinese medicine believes, "joints are used for movement") is necessary to achieve the ideal effect of the second stage, which is the final step in cerebral palsy recovery. The better the posture is corrected, the higher the quality of life for the child with cerebral palsy will be, and the stronger their ability to reintegrate into society will be.
。Cerebral palsy is a holistic condition, affecting 70% of children with intellectual impairments and 30–40% with language impairments. Therefore, physical rehabilitation must be synchronized with intellectual and language rehabilitation to achieve true recovery, enhance the child's quality of life, and enable them to reintegrate into society earlier, reducing the burden on both the family and society.
Unlocking the immense potential of children with cerebral palsy requires the joint effort of family members and medical staff. The language disorders, intellectual disabilities, and deafness in children with cerebral palsy are distinct from those of other conditions. Their language function is not absent but rather has been functionally underutilized due to a lack of long-term guidance. Many parents desperately seek quick fixes while neglecting early language rehabilitation training.
The principle of language training is to guide the child with language while providing physical rehabilitation. Long-term language guidance can increase information feedback to the brain, forming simple reflex pathways and guiding conscious voluntary movements into unconscious reflex actions. This creates logical reflex pathways in the brain and memory in the central nervous system. Many children show improvements in intelligence and language alongside their motor function. Only by synchronizing physical, intellectual, and language rehabilitation can children achieve the ultimate goal of four-skill synchronization: walking (sitting, standing, crouching, walking); grasping (extending, flexing, grasping, releasing); speaking (single sounds, speaking, continuous sounds, singing); and recognizing letters (listening, knowing, learning, reading).
Therefore, as long as active treatment is pursued, there is no problem.