Hiroshi Tanabe, Hirofumi Tanabe, Shosaku Okuda, Akihiko Kondo, Yuichi Takata
Volume: 12 Issue: 03, 2024
Abstract:
Pediatric Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy was conducted for two weeks through online sessions to evaluate the effectiveness of remote therapy to avoid exhaustion of mothers from commuting their children with cerebral palsy (CP). Participants were six patients with unilateral CP, to whom a series of home practices were managed and performed by mothers on behalf of therapists, including cast restraint of the nonparalyzed upper extremity, motor activity log (MAL) administration, and other relevant home practices. Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS, the second edition), Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), and Pediatric Motor Activity Log (PMAL) were employed as evaluation indexes to assess the effectiveness of pre- and post-intervention and in the follow-up evaluation one month after the intervention. As a result, all participants completed the program. Results indicated that the average duration of fiberglass cast fitting was 4.23 hours per day. Furthermore, PDMS, PEDI, and PMAL scores improved significantly during the intervention. In addition, intervention effects endured until the follow-up evaluation one month after the intervention, except for the PEDI Functional Skills (PEDI-FS) score. As previously mentioned, the study's findings confirm the effectiveness of Pediatric Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (P-CIMT) when performed remotely.