Unfortunately, current medicine cannot offer methods for completely curing cerebral palsy. At the present stage, only methods have been developed that make it possible to slightly slow down the inevitable progression of the disease and maximally adapt the child to adult life.
The main factor in the successful fight against the disease is the combined efforts of doctors and close relatives. The latter bear the greatest daily work and responsibility. The earlier rehabilitation begins, the greater the chances of success. Psychologists, special teachers and physiotherapists are also of great importance in the process of child rehabilitation.
Babies cannot maintain their body in the correct position. As a result, the disease progresses, internal organs atrophy, and the supporting apparatus degrades. Special chairs and seating supports have been developed that teach him to repeat the correct movements and postures. Having such skills is an important factor for successful treatment. To ensure the correct development of a child, you need to help him learn to fix his body in a physiologically correct location.
Auxiliary products must be selected strictly individually after consultation with the attending physician. He must explain what parameters the seat supports must meet, and the specific model is chosen by those caring for the child. Parents should pay attention to the presence of special devices that help maintain the correct position of the body. What matters are the possibilities of adjustment for each specific child, taking into account his physical condition.
Prescription of special rehabilitation means
Special devices are selected taking into account the patient’s age and the severity of the disease. These can be ordinary chairs with tables, chairs with special additional equipment, or wheelchairs. During daily training, they should develop the child’s skills in correct body position, develop his musculoskeletal system, promote the coordinated work of the central nervous system, and regulate the processes of excitation and inhibition. After each workout, the muscles develop a stable physical memory. Seat supports allow you to convert an ordinary chair into an orthopedic one, which is very convenient.
Orthopedic aids allow you to gradually add loads and correct body position, which increases muscle strength, the connection between the muscles and the nervous system becomes more stable and coordinated. A chair with a seat support is considered one of the main means of auxiliary therapy; it allows the child to develop vital skills and adapt faster. The earlier classes are started with a child, the greater the chances of successful treatment.
What criteria are used to select supports?
This is a very important factor; with an illiterate approach or incorrect use, the opposite result may be obtained instead of benefit. Correctly fixed posture in a sitting position allows the child to make targeted movements with his arms and head. If a child has a severe stage of the disease and cannot independently maintain an upright position, then the support must have special additional clamps. They are adjusted to the height and characteristics of the spine, gently support the body, and do not cause any unpleasant sensations.
If a child has a mild illness and he is able to sit independently and rest his hands on the table, then it is better for him to purchase a small low chair with armrests. Special support will be needed only when his head tips back, and the baby cannot return it to its normal position. This seat support should have a headrest that will support your head in a comfortable position. Children who constantly fall to one side need special lateral support. In this case, the backrest should have a more complex design with additional fastening straps.
To walk outside, you should buy a wheelchair. When choosing a specific model, the real capabilities of the patient should be taken into account. If he can move a little on his own, then a wheelchair will do; if he has a complex form of cerebral palsy and cannot do without outside help, then he needs to buy a wheelchair. In all cases, physical capabilities and age must be taken into account. Another important point is that the presence of a special chair and gurney does not mean that the child does not need to be accustomed to an upright position. Even if there is no hope that he will ever be able to walk or stand on his own, the body should still be maintained in an upright position for some time every day.
The presence of an abductor and a set of special support belts is a prerequisite for any type of support. Only with their help is it possible to maintain the physiological position of the body. The most modern models of orthopedic supports are used as universal aids, making it possible not only to sit, but also to stand.
It is important to buy not just one chair, but a set of special furniture. The chair has all the necessary adjustments and locks, and the table can be used:
- as a separate element of orthopedic furniture. It has a large number of different adjustments, which makes it possible to adapt to any chair;
- As part of the verticalizer, the patient gradually gets used to the vertical stand with its help.
The support varies slightly in design features depending on the purpose. For a child with cerebral palsy, it is advisable to purchase:
- chair-seat for washing. The frame is made of aluminum alloy and has support straps that allow you to securely hold the child during bathing procedures. The back itself tilts, which makes it possible to give the body the most comfortable position;
- toilet chair. Makes it easier for parents to care for their child; physiological needs are met as needed without changing position. The chair has an orthopedic back with a full set of support belts, and there is a storage unit for feces and urine.
For such chairs, the seat supports are adjusted taking into account the clinical picture of the disease.
Brief list of seat supports used and their characteristics
It is recommended to use seat supports not only for children with cerebral palsy, but also for the effective rehabilitation of various post-traumatic or congenital pathologies. The frame is made of glued moisture-resistant plywood, natural boards or aluminum alloys. Manufacturing materials do not cause allergic reactions, the quality is checked by state sanitary authorities, each product has a certificate of conformity. Most structures are equipped with wheels, which allows you to easily move your child to another place. The front wheels are swivel, the rear ones have a parking brake.
Zebra seat support
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High-quality environmentally friendly foam rubber is used as soft padding, and a leather substitute that is resistant to detergents is used for upholstery. The coating prevents skin irritation, the baby's body can breathe calmly, and diaper rash is eliminated. Each pole manufacturer can change the list of materials used and develop their own design features.
What adjustments can the supports have?
Thanks to the presence of numerous adjustments, parents can set individual parameters for the child’s body position. In this case, the settings are adjusted depending on the dynamics of rehabilitation and changes in age. What parameters are controlled?
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Height and inclination of the footrest. | The bend angle of the legs at the knees should be within 90°, the feet should be in a horizontal position. These are physiological norms, we need to strive for them. If the child has a complex form of cerebral palsy, then the footrest is adjusted gradually; there is no need to try to force the rehabilitation process. |
| Height and backrest angle. | This parameter allows you to change the height of the backrest in accordance with the growth of the baby. If it is difficult for him to keep his body in an upright position, then his back is fixed to the support with belts. |
| Headrest dimensions. | The element can be installed on supports immediately or included in the list of additional equipment. It is used to fix the position of the head, facilitates the feeding process, and allows the baby to move his head in the direction that is most favorable for him. |
| Seating options. | They are selected for each patient and can be adjusted to create different body positions. |
| Armrest position. | This parameter allows the patient to use the armrests as supports. Skeletal muscles develop, physical memory of body position appears. |
| Place of installation of the interfemoral wedge. | The element is called the abductor, develops the correct position of the hips, helps the patient quickly master the skills of independent standing or walking. |
| Position of the removable children's table. | In most cases, it is sold as an additional component and is adjustable in height and distance to the seat. |
Such adjustments are considered standard; the vast majority of seat supports meet the requirements of orthopedists. The first fine adjustment of the child's body position should be performed under the supervision of a physician. Parents should carefully read its recommendations and follow them unquestioningly.
What sizes can seat supports have?
Size indicators are standardized, only adjustment parameters can change.
It is very important for the patient to carry out passive stretching and eliminate the crossing of the legs. There is an abductor for this; it has soft upholstery that eliminates circulatory problems.
With the help of special supports, you can gradually lift from a lying position to a sitting position. The process occurs slowly, the patient does not feel discomfort or become nervous. In such devices, the angle of inclination can smoothly increase from 0° to 45°. With the help of additional pillows, the depth of the back or seat can be changed.
A child should be taught to sit with his legs bent by changing the angle of the support and adjusting the footrests. At the same time, active recurvation of the knee joint is achieved. A bridle is used to secure the thoracic region, and the hip part is secured with hip mounts.
Children who, due to complex disorders, have a plaster cast on the hip girdle, need to purchase an abduction roller. The device only has a support for the back; adjustments allow you to give the body a comfortable and physiological position. It is possible to increase the maximum angle, which allows the child to rest or sleep in this position. To make sitting easier, some models of the back support can be fully reclined. The roller is equipped with a table, the patient can play at it or do basic activities with his parents to develop motor skills. The table is on wheels; if the child makes movements with his legs, he can independently move around the room. read on our website.
Video - Wheelchair for patients with cerebral palsy
), especially for the project "Life without barriers"
Victoria is sitting in a children's chair near the window in the kitchen. Her mother, Svetlana, is drinking tea at a large table nearby. Vika watches her carefully as Svetlana puts the hot kettle on the table, cuts the cake, and arranges the cups. Sitting is not entirely comfortable: Vika rolls onto her left side in the chair. To drink tea together, Sveta takes her in her arms and places the cup in front of her.
Four-year-old Vika from the Moscow region has cerebral palsy. Children with cerebral palsy need comprehensive rehabilitation: from special shoes to constant rehabilitation in medical centers. Almost all families need to especially rebuild their lives - often such children cannot just sit at the table. Vika’s case is not such a difficult one, and the mother of eleven-year-old Valeria from the village of Luzy, Kirov region, recently covered her daughter with pillows on all sides to feed her.
“I secured her like this, with pillows, and fed her. She really likes to draw, but you can’t get to the table in a wheelchair. So I just stood next to her and held a piece of paper for her. And Lera drew. The lessons were done according to the same scheme.”
Children with such disabilities need a specially arranged life. From orthopedic shoes to special tables and chairs with straps and fastenings so that an eleven-year-old child does not need to be spoon-fed. The list of funds necessary for the child is compiled by the parents or the attending physician, and approved by the medical and social examination commission (MSE). The list approved by the commission is called IPR - individual rehabilitation program. As a rule, the commission trims the list: Lera, for example, was denied an anti-bedsore mattress. And Vika does not receive the technical equipment that the commission approved. She has been waiting for a verticalizer for six months - a special simulator that helps the patient stand. Svetlana says that she is not sure whether they will get their money back at least for the diapers.
An entrepreneur from Kazan and founder of the charity online store Osobenniedeti.rf, Rustem Khasanov, believes that the prices for special equipment for children with cerebral palsy are greatly inflated. If you organize competent production of such equipment, Khasanov believes, this can become a successful business model.
The idea to launch a charity store came to Khasanov and other volunteers from LiveJournal in 2009. Khasanov brought things for parents of children with disabilities to a Kazan charity foundation. There was a special verticalizer for a child with cerebral palsy. “When I found out how much this one and a half meters of plywood cost, I couldn’t believe it: why pay that kind of money? And the foundation paid about 35 thousand rubles for this chair.”
© Photo: courtesy of the Dobro Mail.Ru project
© Photo: courtesy of the Dobro Mail.Ru project
In his blog, Khasanov writes that he convinced manufacturers of potential profits, “waving printouts of statistical calculations about hundreds of thousands of potential consumers.” A manufacturer was found and a charity online store was launched. Applications, says Khasanov, poured in immediately.
“After the first batch of 12 chairs, my mail and phone were ringing off the hook. My parents wanted the same chair. We realized that we had uncovered a problem on a national scale,” says Khasanov. Now the store ships chairs all over Russia, and plans to deliver the 1000th chair soon. The project does not always cope with the flow of requests: in April 2015, the reception of requests was stopped and currently (July 2015) has not been launched again.
There are a lot of requests because parents cannot always get the same chair under the IPR. Khasanov believes that this is happening because the cost of the chair is greatly exaggerated: “In our country, for two pieces of plywood to officially become rehabilitation equipment, you need to spend serious money: certification, certificates. We did without this.” If production is optimized, Khasanov says, the cost of a chair can be reduced to 10 thousand rubles - that’s how much a chair costs in an online store.
For comparison: in 2014, the Nizhny Novgorod region purchased two chairs for children with cerebral palsy for 336,433 rubles, each chair for 168,216 rubles, 16.8 times more expensive than in Khasanov’s store. “The cost of rehabilitation equipment in Russia is a systemic problem. The buyer is forced, but the seller is interested. These are the rules of the game, and if you play by the rules, you sell it at a high price.”
You can help Vika and the rest of the online store’s wards: more than 300 children are already in line. To cope with the huge flow of applications, more than 300 thousand rubles are needed.
Dobro.Mail.Ru helps the online store. In 2014, project users paid for the production and delivery of 10 chairs.
The furniture is delivered by volunteers, so the foundation is now looking for volunteers throughout Russia. If you have the opportunity to transport a chair, you can fill out a form.
We can improve the lives of children with cerebral palsy. Make sure that everyday things - lunch or homework - are no longer an insurmountable obstacle. And life will become just life, and not a series of difficulties and failures.
Cerebral palsy results from problems in the parts of the brain that control muscle movement. Cerebral palsy affects approximately three in every thousand children, and symptoms can range from mild to severely disabling. Some children with cerebral palsy may have mental retardation, seizures, or speech/hearing problems. Although cerebral palsy is not progressive, it is a permanent condition and lack of proper positioning and active use of muscles can cause the impairment to worsen. In general, the earlier intervention is started for children with cerebral palsy, the better chance they have of overcoming developmental disabilities or learning new ways of completing the tasks before them.
Children with cerebral palsy have difficulty with stationary postures, transitional movements, and functional mobility. Because postural and motor control problems are central to the challenges faced by students with cerebral palsy, they often spend more time sitting than standing during the day, both at school and at home. It is vital that tables, chairs, seats adapted for children with cerebral palsy, ensured their optimal location, which is necessary both for health and for performing various functions.
From a technical point of view adaptive seats are defined as modifications to seating devices to improve sitting posture and/or postural control in individuals with physical disabilities. In layman's terms, this means that your child can use a special table, chair, or other seating that can be personalized to suit his or her needs.
When a child with cerebral palsy spends long periods of time in positions and positions that reinforce abnormal movement patterns and other disorders, this positioning can contribute to poor musculoskeletal health. Correct positioning of the child in a sitting position has a beneficial effect on tone, reflex activity, prevention of deformation, maintenance of skin and tissue integrity, as well as stability and alignment of posture. Additionally, proper positioning during adaptive sitting may have a positive impact on pulmonary function in children with cerebral palsy, which affects speech ability and overall lung health.
Occupational therapists and other professionals who specialize in working with children with cerebral palsy note the key role of using adaptive seats as an effective rehabilitation and recovery equipment.
Devices for children with musculoskeletal disorders
Welcome to the page of our online store, where they will always listen to you carefully and help you make the best choice. In addition, our specialists will advise you any time you need help, even if you have already made a purchase from us on the portal.
We offer furniture and seats, as well as high-quality chairs and beds for children with cerebral palsy and people who have musculoskeletal disorders. You can purchase any equipment for quick rehabilitation from us, with prompt delivery to any required region.
For what purposes are rehabilitation means required?
- To develop a person’s ability to naturally tilt their back in a sitting position;
- to train the functioning of the central nervous system;
- to stimulate the musculoskeletal system;
- to regulate human motor activity.
Of course, what adaptations a growing body needs depends directly on the type of disorder and the degree of impairment of its motor skills, as well as balance and coordination. Also, furniture for people with cerebral palsy creates the required personal space, which will help the teenager develop fully.
The high-quality products that we offer on the site are widely used in physical therapy and rehabilitation for people who have disorders of the musculoskeletal system.
In addition, we can offer the best prices for special exercise equipment for people with cerebral palsy. This is a whole range of special equipment that helps restore limb mobility, as well as other complexes for rehabilitation and therapy at a competitive cost.
Equipment that improves life
Even if a child cannot be cured, he always needs to create the most favorable living conditions, alternate phases of staying indoors, learning, outdoor recreation, and improve his well-being as much as possible. It is also necessary to take care of it and create the most comfortable living environment.
When choosing orthopedic rehabilitation devices, you should pay attention to the main characteristics:
- Footrest slope range;
- range of positions and angles of inclination of the support back of the device;
- range of adjustment of armrest positions, high-quality performance of the load-bearing structure, dimensions;
- manufacturer's warranty and quality certificates;
- seat dimensions, length, width;
- headrest adjustment height;
- abductor location.
The pages of our portal provide modern products, comfortable and practical models of cribs, and to choose a suitable design, you can always consult with our qualified specialist.
Also in our company’s extensive online catalog we provide many different chairs for patients with impaired and complete loss of motor functions. These can be orthopedic functional models or elegant wheelchairs. Buy special products for active children; they will help the child move easily, and, at the same time, will not restrict his movements. Moreover, these therapy chairs are suitable for a variety of physical activities.
All the products we offer, including seats for children with paralysis, are made from the highest quality and especially pure materials, they are resistant to water, various liquids, and resistant to damage.
Modern devices for people with disabilities who suffer from cerebral palsy
Today, in our specialized online store you can find a huge selection of products for people with such a complex diagnosis as cerebral palsy. Only on our portal you can select the required designs based on the child’s anthropometric data, furniture, chairs and beds, tables. Not a single person with this disease can do without these devices, because very often furniture for children with cerebral palsy is necessary when solving everyday tasks, be it learning or eating. Special mechanisms will be indispensable assistants in these processes.
Functional beds for children with cerebral palsy are considered the most necessary structures that allow a child with such a disease to feel comfortable and cozy in any, even the most difficult conditions. Such a bed performs not one task, but several at once, namely:
- Guarantees the most comfortable position;
- provides comfortable access to a wheelchair;
- significantly simplifies patient care;
- The product is practical and multifunctional.
Seats and armchairs.
Accessible Environment LLC offers specialized children's chairs and chairs for people with impaired musculoskeletal functions. A large selection of equipment includes orthopedic functional rehabilitation chairs, chairs and wheelchairs. We offer specialized chairs for active children; they do not limit the child’s activity. Multifunctional products are used not only for sitting, but also for all kinds of activities, games and developmental training exercises. A specialized adjustable table, a multifunctional headrest, a vest that fixes the body position, and side support rollers are additional options for greater convenience.
Height adjustment allows you to accurately adjust the device to your height and age.
All models of furniture presented are made of natural materials and environmentally friendly and proven materials.
In turn, chairs for children with cerebral palsy are very practical and extremely functional, as they are made taking into account all the needs of sick children, and are intended for training during rehabilitation, when they are taught to sit correctly. The chairs have vests and belts, they secure the child. The fasteners are very simple and have latches, so they can be used to easily secure any fasteners.
