HEALTH
CEREBRAL PALSY: 4 Activities for Kids to improve their health
Cerebral palsy is a medical condition that significantly impacts a child’s muscles. As a result, your offspring may have trouble with coordination, extreme stiffness, and sometimes slowed mental capacity. Therefore, as a parent, it is natural to want to protect your kid and try limiting their physical movement, so their condition does not become aggravated.
However, while cerebral palsy can be slightly challenging to live with, it should not be the reason for holding back your child. Several activities and sports your child can partake in can boost their well-being. So, what enriching programs does your child need to be a part of? Here’s what you need to know:
What Is Cerebral Palsy?
A cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that impact different body parts, primarily attacking the muscles. As a result, your child may have trouble with their coordination and balance. On the other hand, extreme cases can include impaired vision and hearing coupled with difficulty in voluntary movements. While most cases of Cerebral Palsy happen at birth, a few issues arise because of other factors that hinder brain development. In the former circumstance, during delivery, if your child is unable to receive enough oxygen, it can cause severe brain damage, leading to cerebral palsy. This damage comes under medical malpractice.
The healthcare staff is responsible for both the mother and child during birth, and if the team fails to provide the necessary care, you may prosecute them. By looking into birth malpractice, you are well within your rights to file a claim and hold the medical practitioners liable for endangering your child’s life. While cerebral palsy is complex, your child can still lead a fulfilling life. It is possible through care, attention, and following specialists’ advice to the T to ensure your child gets the best possible treatment.
What Activities Can Your Child Participate In?
The best activities for cerebral palsy are those that allow your child to work with areas of their brain damaged due to injury. This consistent engagement enables your child to practice repeated movements and get into the habit of moving their body a certain way. For instance, if your kid has poor hand control, they should look into activities that require using their hands and practicing their grip. Therefore, to help you learn more about different activities your children can do. Here’s what you need to know:
1. Involve Your Child In Arts
Creativity engages the mind, and there is no authentic medium than painting that attests to this concept. Art gives children with cerebral palsy a medium to express themselves. These kids may find it hard to talk, be emotionally vulnerable, or lack communication tools. However, arts and crafts allow children to reclaim their strength. They can try abstract art, portrait painting, and even sculpting.
These will enable the kid to use their hands, practice repeated motions, exercise their joints, and soon get into the habit of creating vast murals without dropping their brush. You may also notice they have no trouble picking up canvases and holding the most delicate tool without dropping them. A child’s emotional well-being gets a boost when they draw, paint and color what they feel without the need to push themselves out of their comfort zone.
2. Look Into Horse Riding
Using horses to encourage healing is a type of physical therapy called hippo therapy. By riding a horse, your child can fix their posture and improve coordination and balance, allowing them to hold their ground. The way the horse races, jumps and trots – all encourage the child to adjust to the horse’s motion. This continual movement helps your kid to tighten their muscles and keep up with the horse’s speed without losing focus. Horses are also great emotional companions. These emotionally supportive animals can also help your kids work through their emotions and express them. The only catch is your baby must bond with the horse to lean on it for support.
3. Engage With Adaptive Sports
Adaptive sports like archery can help children with cerebral play deal with mental health problems. Playing any sport can be exciting for your child. They may also like a simple event like throwing and catching the ball. However, the more you encourage your child to participate in sports, the more such activities will uplift their mood. Your offspring may no longer show signs of depression and anxiety. In addition, recreational sports reduce all forms of psychological stress in children by at least 40%. If you begin doing these activities biweekly, the amount can go down to 50%.
4. Explore Musical Therapy
Music activates the different brain and nervous system areas to connect the notes with rhythm and movement. A child who listens to good music may respond to it by jumping in the same place or using their arms and legs. This therapy can help children with cerebral palsy get a better sense of rhythm. Music reduces the heart and blood pressure of any child with cerebral palsy. However, listening to music tracks and focusing only on the rhythm and melody can help them develop a better attention span.
Music with shorter rhythms is about catching attention and works well for kids. Use more straightforward rhythms if you want your child to focus on a trivial task like picking up a fork. But if you want them to remember names, you need longer beats. So Musical Therapy allows the cerebral process to modify itself and trigger strong emotional responses. You may notice your child communicating better, relaxing in their chair, and having fewer breakdowns.
Final Thoughts
Cerebral palsy is a collection of disorders that can impact a child in various ways. Your baby may develop weak muscles and have trouble using them to move around. It can pose a significant challenge since they may get restricted to only one spot. However, you can try out some activities to help your child improve their physical and mental capabilities.
Cerebral palsy is a condition that marks a lack of brain development, but these holistic activities can boost mental engagement. Your choices may include encouraging your child to paint, ride a horse, or participate in a sport. In some cases, you may also expose them to music which boosts cognitive function and thinking, allowing them to communicate with you.
Umar Nisar was born and raised in the busy city of Abbottabad. As a journalist, Umar Nisar has contributed to many online publications including PAK Today and the Huffing Post. In regards to academics, Umar Nisar earned a degree in business from the Abbottabad UST, Havelian. Umar Nisar follows the money and covers all aspects of emerging tech here at The Hear Up.
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