My daughter has Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy. In order to help her get better, I brought her to China to seek treatment for two and a half years. It was a very painful and strenuous type of treatment method that included medicinal intake and physiotherapy. Although in the beginning small improvements were derived, the progress plateaued and her treatment became stagnant. A parent who went to China for the same purpose introduced ABR to me. She told me that ABR wasn’t like the treatment we went for in China; it wasn’t as painful and tiring. The child only needs to comfortably lay down and enjoy the exercises provided by his or her parents. Honestly, when I started ABR, I had little expectations. Everything looked too easy to be effective. Unexpectedly, my daughter started showing improvements. Up to this day, after this many years, she still continues to show progress. And the progress seems to speed up the more we do it. The best thing about the exercise is; even if the child gets ill or for some reason stops doing the therapy for some time, the child’s improvement does not get undone. Many therapies require the child to actively do physio nonstop. In any case that the child stops, the improvements from before will slowly disappear. My daughter is a good example for such a case. All the muscles built from her therapies before were all softened, and all the progress seen from previous therapies all came to naught.
-Shirley
The pictures below were extracted from her progress reports:
Improved strength of trunk
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Improved sitting position
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Feb 2005 Samantha sitting Mar05 GIF Lifting the leg throw her off sitting position |
Mar 2006 Able to maintain sitting position when leg is lifted |
Improved trunk strength and arm mobility – when the child is brought backwards
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Feb 2005 Arms are close to body for Support |
Feb 2009 Able to fully extend arms for support showing Improved extension of arms And stronger trunk |
Nov 2011 Able to maintain position without any external support |
Improved crawlilng
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Feb 2005 Samantha Crawling Feb05 GIF The only she is able to crawl is by bringing one leg forward and then both legs hop forward and then rest on her legs, before the whole cycle repeats all over again. |
Nov 2008 Samantha Crawling Nov08 GIF No more hopping. Legs begin to coordinate with the hands but still does not have any contralateral movement pattern |
Nov 2010 Samantha crawling Nov10 GIF Emergence of contralateral crawling |
Making a turn when she is crawling
Crawling: In Nov 2005, she is unable to make a turn. With her superior motor intelligence, and the use of the block movement of trunk and the arm, and the limited reach of arm and leg, she manages to make a U turn in the most unconventional way.
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Feb 2005 Sam Turning1 Mar05 GIF Unable to turn her body |
Feb 2005 Sam Turning2 Mar05 GIF To create additional room for the turn, she lifts her body and stretch out the leg but unsuccessful. |
Feb 2005 Sam Turning3 Mar05 GIF Another successful attempt to create room for the turn. But this time she manages to free her right arm. |
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Feb 2005 Then she turns her body with the Depression of the lower ribs |
Sam Turning4 Mar05 GIF |
Feb 2005 Sam Turning5 Mar05 GIF Next she uses her hands to reach to the side |
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Feb 2005 Sam Turning6 Mar05 GIF To complete the turn, her trunk and arm are lifted again to reach further to the side. |
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July 2007 Sam Turning July07 GIF She is still unable to make a proper U turn but able to make a big diameter turn with ‘crawling’ (one leg forward, hopping and resting on both legs) |
Mar 2008 Sam Turning Mar08 GIF Making turn with the rotational mobility of the trunk and the turn of the legs. |
Details of Mar 2008 Turning
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Rotational mobility of the trunk Samantha Turning1 Mar08 GIF |
Turn of the legs Samantha Turning2 Mar08 GIF |
Improved kneeling position: Kneeling position, also known as ‘short leg’ position, is the position that the child needs to manage well before she is able to consider standing and walking, which uses ‘long leg position’. ‘Short leg’ is half of ‘long leg’. If one cannot manage ‘short leg’, it is impossible for her to manage ‘long leg’
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July 2007 Unable to hold ‘kneeling’ position even with external support |
Nov 2007 Able to hold ‘kneeling’ position but holding arms very close to body |
July 2008 Able to hold ‘kneeling’ position with full extension of arm |
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Nov 2011 Able to get into ‘kneeling’ position without any external support. |
Improved knee walking – As with kneeling position, knee walking means walking with ‘short leg’. One has to be able to do knee walking before she ventures into walking arena
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Mar 2008 Samantha Knee Walking Mar08 GIF Pulled primarily by the arms on the legs. Still cling onto the arms for movements forward. |
July 2012 Samantha Knee Walking July12 GIF Less reliance on arms and more on Improved stability of shoulder and pelvic girdles |
Nov 2014 Samantha Knee Walking Nov14 GIF and stability of the spine |
Improved transition from floor to the bench
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Mar 2008 Samantha to bench Mar08 GIF Unable to push with the leg. Rely completely on the arm to pull the body and the legs |
Dec 2012 Samantha To Bench Dec12 GIF Begin to use legs to push herself to the bench. But he cannot bring her legs under her pelvis. Instead she has to bring her legs to the side. |
Improved transition from floor to standing:
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July 2012 Samantha standup July12 GIF Note the entire standing up process takes a very long time. |
Details of standup July 2012 Samantha standup July12 GIF Rely heavily on the arms to pull herself up. But the shoulder girdle is still not sufficiently stable. As a results, her shoulder goes forward and she grabs the chair so tightly that the back of chair is visibly being pulled. She is still unable to effectively use her hip and the leg to help with this. Note how her leg is stuck at one point throughout the whole process. |
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Nov 2014 Samantha standup Nov14 GIF Speed of standing up improves |
Details of standing up in Nov14 Samantha standup1 Nov14 GIF Improved stability of shoulder and hence the arms do not have to pull with great efforts and the shoulder stays in position. Relies more on the hip and the push of the legs. Note how the back of the chair stays well in shape. |
Samantha standup2 Nov14 GIF Stable pelvic girdle and the ability to use the leg to push the body up. |
