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TREATMENT OF
CEREBRAL PARALYSIS |
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Cerebral paralysis is not an illness. It is a condition
which is the result of early brain damage of the central
nervous system, which causes disturbances in movement. This
is further enhanced by the following
statement: "We are not sick. We only have a physical
handicap and we have the right to live, work, sport,
recreation, to make love, and to enjoy all the beautiful
things life brings, like all other people".
The team for cerebral paralysis at the hospital managed to
diagnose cerebral paralysis in children at the age of six
months, whereas in the past this diagnosis was made at the
age of four years. This is a great achievement which the
team is very proud of.
Early treatment of cerebral paralysis in children is carried
out using Bobat's method of neurophysiotherapy. For children
of pre-school age corrective plaster boots below the knee
are used in the course of two to three weeks. We use these
to reduce spasm of muscle structure of lower extremities.
Surgical interventions are also used: transposition of
adductor muscles (transposition of muscles which bring the
hips closer), elongation of the flexor knee muscles
(elongation of the muscles that bend the knee), extension of
the shortened tendon of Achilles, etc.
It is a good thing that the Centre for Cerebral Paralysis is
at the Orthopaedic hospital, where the children can be
treated at the policlinic, and hospitalized if it is
necessary to carry out any necessary surgical interventions.
A large number of the treated children show that the
cerebral paralysis program is justified. The parents are
also satisfied with the treatment of their children and the
results accomplished at the Centre for Cerebral Paralysis at
the hospital.
Effects of the application of modern methods (Bobat) in
treatment of children with early brain damage are the
following:
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• early detection and early beginning of
treatment. Team work allowed early treatment to
begin eight times earlier (from 48 months to 6
months,) while modern science tells us that if
treatment begins after 12 months, invalidity in
children is huge and hopeless;
• rationalization of medical care. Early
detection enables minimal expenses allotted to
medical care. If only one case is not detected
in the first 12 months, he will be a patient for
almost his entire life and there will be huge
expenses;
• efficient treatment was accomplished
through education of team staff, while the
opening of the most advanced department provided
ideal working conditions (rooms for Bobat
exercises, rooms for vocational therapy, and
ideal conditions for parent education in single
and double bedrooms).
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This success is owed to the successful collaboration with:
the Pediatric, Neuropsychiatric, and Orthopaedic Clinics in
Skopje. The university clinical centre in Ljubljana, and
collaboration with Oxford (Novles Jones), with Ray Johnson
from London, and with the president, Prof. Ari Klapvajk from
Holland. |
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