DESCRIPTION:
Cerebral Palsy in Infancy is a thought-provoking book which introduces a new way of thinking on the development and use of interventions. Relevant to current practice, it advocates early, targeted activity that is focused on increasing muscle activation, training basic actions and minimizing (or preventing) mal-adaptive changes to muscle morphology and function. The authors present recent scientific findings in brain science, movement sciences (developmental biomechanics, motor control mechanisms, motor learning, exercise science) and muscle biology. This knowledge provides the rationale for active intervention, underpinning the need for an early referral to appropriate services. The book features methods for promoting relatively intensive physical activity in young infants without placing a burden on parents which include assistive technologies such as robotics, electronic bilateral limb trainers and baby treadmills.
Cerebral Palsy in Infancy begins by specifying the guidelines for training and exercise, outlining the rationale for such intervention. It goes on to cover the fundamentals of neuromotor plasticity and the development and negative effects of limited motor activity on brain organization and corticospinal tract development. Neuromuscular adaptations to impairments and inactivity are discussed along with the General Movement assessment that can provide early diagnosis and prognosis, facilitating very early referral from paediatric specialists to training programs. The book ends with a section featuring various methods of training with the emphasis on preventing/minimizing muscle contracture, stimulating biomechanically critical muscle activity and joint movement.
Key Features:
- conceived and edited by Roberta Shepherd with contributions from internationally renowned expert clinicians and researchers
- discusses new research and new evidence-based treatment interventions
- shows how to organize very early and intensive physical activity in young infants to stimulate motor development and growth
- therapies include the specificity of training and exercise, with emphasis on promoting muscle activity and preventing contracture by active instead of passive stretching
- methods include new interactive technologies in enhancing home-based training sessions carried out by the infant""s family
- extensive referencing in each chapter for further study
- chapters feature "Annotations" which illustrate scientific findings
CONTENTS:
Part 1: Introduction
1. The changing face of intervention in infants with cerebral palsy
Annotation A: Aspects of motor training
Part 2: Neuromotor Plasticity & Development
2. Corticospinal tract development and activity-dependent plasticity
3. Re-thinking the brain: New insights into early experience and brain development
Part 3: Impairments & Neuromuscular Adaptations to Impairments & Inactivity
4. The syndrome of deforming spastic paresis: pathophysiology, assessment & treatment
5. Functional effects of neural impairments & subsequent adaptations in cerebral palsy
Annotation B: Findings from a series of studies of passive mechanical properties of muscle in young children with cerebral palsy
6. Skeletal muscle changes due to cerebral palsy
7. Early muscle development in children with cerebral palsy: the consequences for further muscle growth, muscle function, and long-term-mobility
Part 4: Early and Active Intervention to Optimize Growth, Development & Functional Motor Performance
8. Early diagnosis and prognosis in cerebral palsy
9. Effects of motor activity on brain and muscle development in cerebral palsy
10. The consequences of independent locomotion for brain and psychological development
Part 5: Specific Methods of Motor Training for Infants
11. Training lower limb performance in early infancy: support, balance and propulsion
Annotation C: Kick Start: Using the mobile infant learning paradigm to promote early leg action
12. Treadmill training in early infancy- sensory & motor effects
13. Very early upper limb interventions for infants with asymmetric brain lesions
14. Constraint-induced therapy and bimanual training in children with unilateral cerebral palsy
15. Interactive technologies for diagnosis and treatment in infants with cerebral palsy