Effect of ergotherapy on the level of self-care of children with cerebral palsy

• Main Author: Oleksandr Kushchenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kharkiv State Academy of Physical Culture 2018-06-01
• Series: Слобожанський науково-спортивний вісник
• Subjects: ergotherapy; recovery; functioning; activity; participation; physical activity; exercise
• Online Access: http://journals.uran.ua/index.php/1991-0177/article/view/135571/132411
• ISSN: 1991-0177; 1999-818X

Purpose: form a block of ergotherapy for children with cerebral palsy, supplement it with a program of physical rehabilitation and determine its utility in increasing the level of self-service. Material & Methods: analysis and generalization of foreign and domestic special scientific and methodological literature; pediatric assessment of activity limitations (PEDI). The contingent of subjects – 106 children 4–6 years old, 54 of them with spastic hemiplegia and 52 with spastic diplegia. Methods of physical therapy were included in the exercises with control groups. The main groups received a part of the modified standard procedures, and the key difference was the use in the main groups of ergotherapy, namely targeted therapy. Results: purpose of ergotherapeutic interventions was to achieve the maximum possible activity of the child. Purposeful therapy required a priority analysis of the task, the environment of performance and the capabilities of the child. Procedures for targeted therapy were built from occupations that included a specific task algorithm. According to the final results, the main groups had significantly better results in a number of items in the self-service section of PEDI. Conclusions: use of targeted therapy in conjunction with physical therapy has advantages in improving self-service level, compared with the standard protocol of physical therapy.