Kinesio Taping, Advanced MRI & Progress in Stem Cell Treatment: New Hopes for Cerebral Palsy Treatment

Cerebral Palsy is one of those neurological disorders which occurs due to any kind of injury or mal function to the child’s brain while it is still under development within the womb. It causes improperly developed brain that causes a problem in the movement and muscle condition of the affected children along with the posture and balance of the victim.

Recognizing Signs of Cerebral Palsy in a Child

There are various treatments available for Cerebral Palsy which includes the likes of medicines, therapies, certain surgical procedures and various alternative medicines which helps in betterment of the condition of the victim by loosening the muscles and also rectifying the posture of the victims along with the balance problem that occurs.

But in current years, three treatments of the Cerebral Palsy have grabbed some duly deserved attention and are doing wonders in the said field. We will discuss three such treatment methods which are said to be working like wonders on Cerebral Palsy patients.

Kinesio Taping:  

When it comes to motor functions, which is effected in Cerebral Palsy, equilibrium plays a very vital role in the maintenance of the same. Equilibrium is an essential part of body orientation and balance when a person is either sitting or standing. Hence, when a child is effected by Cerebral Palsy, postural control becomes a vital part of his/ her development.

Maintain postural control in a Cerebral Palsy patient becomes very difficult or complex in nature. Although there are different methods to tackle it, like equine assisted therapy, exercises, postural control insoles and physiotherapy, it sometimes becomes rather difficult to achieve the task.

Researchers are currently focusing on techniques on improving the posture specially when the Cerebral Palsy patient is sitting and kinesio taping has been in the limelight for quite some time now. It is being evaluated against neuro muscular electrical stimulation.

But what is kinesio taping method? Kinesio taping is basically a kind of rehabilitation which helps in providing support to the joints and the muscles. A special kind of latex free tape is attached to various parts of the body of a Cerebral Palsy patients which helps in lifting the skin of the patient, microscopically. This skin elevation helps in reduction of inflammation and pain in the somatosensory system of the patient, thus helping in the treatment of a number of conditions in orthopedics, neurological and neuromuscular ailments.

Kinesio taping treatment mostly on the condition of the patients and may remain at one place for days. This therapy is very well known to treat sports injury and are often used by athletes. Currently it is being used to relieve the pain of Cerebral Palsy too.

In the recent years, there has been some comparisons among kinesio taping, neurodevelopment techniques and neuromuscular electro simulations.

Both neurodevelopment technique and neuromuscular electro simulations have been around for quite sometimes as a proven treatment for patients with Cerebral Palsy. In the former helps in development of posture and movement of the kids with Cerebral Palsy. In neuromuscular electro stimulation uses mild electric contact in order to help patients with muscular activation along with body alignment and weight shifts. Both the treatments are quite effective when it comes to the treatment of Cerebral Palsy, however, researchers are hoping to take it a step ahead.

In Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Training and Research Hospital, Dr. Murat Ersoz, experimented with the three methods on 75 kids with Cerebral Palsy to check out the effectivity of the three procedures. The kids were divided in groups of 25 each and each group was subjected to a single type of treatment method. The main aim of the study was to find out which one of kinesio taping, neurodevelopment technique and neuromuscular electro simulations is most effective when it comes to Cerebral Palsy treatment.

After studying each group for four weeks of treatments, Dr. Ersoz found out that of the 3 kinds of treatment applied, neuromuscular electro stimulations were the most effective one, although all the treatments showed marked development in the posture of the kids. Dr. Ersoz also concluded that kids undergoing neurodevelopment treatment should be also given neuromuscular electro stimulation or kinesio taping for faster muscular developments.

All the three methods of treatment are easy to deliver and non-invasive in nature and has substantial benefits in the Cerebral Palsy conditions. Kinesio taping further helps by preventing any kind of injury to the body and improves circulation of blood which heightens the healing capability of the body too.

Advanced MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging or MRI has been a standard procedure for detection of Cerebral Palsy for generations. It has proved to be one of the most important diagnostic tools when it comes to Cerebral Palsy. However, conventional MRI has certain limitations as it fails certain aspects of the brain.

In recent years, a more advanced MRI technique known as the quantitative MRI is being used to detect Cerebral Palsy as the method is said to be more precise, comprehensive and sensitive when it comes to detection of Cerebral Palsy, but the usage of this method is not very popular.

Doctors are of the opinion that quantitative MRI will be a more comprehensive method of decision making when it comes to the diagnosis, prognosis establishment and appropriate rehabilitation program detection when it comes to Cerebral Palsy.

Human brain is made of a special kind of tissue called Grey Matter which helps in the processing of information available in the brain. The conventional and quantitative MRI techniques differ in the way they detect these Grey Matters.

Researchers found out that studying the Grey Matter was very effective in detection and treatment of Cerebral Palsy. They use a technique called voxel based morphometry to study the ratio between the Grey Matter and White Matter present in the brain along with the volume of the brain. Patients or kids with Cerebral Palsy had reduced volume of brain along with low amount of Grey Matter and Cerebellum. The kind of ratio these shared could shed light on the kind of birth injury that the brain has encountered and also the most effective treatment for the same.  

Researchers found out that patients with Cerebral Palsy had reduced volume of Grey Matter which suggested damages and neural degeneration. The motor dysfunction along with the impairment of speech and mental retardness of the patients in question were directly relatable to the enlargement of veins in the brain.

The problem with Cerebral Palsy is that it is often not detected for a considerable duration of time. Hence it becomes very important to detect the specific type of injury so that proper treatment can be ensured for the same. quantitative MRI helps in exact birth injury detection as it offers much detailed analysis of the pathophysiological condition of Cerebral Palsy.

Researchers are of the opinion that quantitative MRI will hugely enhance the treatment of Cerebral Palsy as better diagnosis and prognosis of the disease will invariably ensure that roper rehabilitation therapy for improvement of motor impairment or language and speech therapy is inflicted on the patient. The efficient, comprehensive and precise detection of causes of Cerebral Palsy in patients by quantitative MRI will also help in creating customized therapy for the patients.

Progress in Stem Cell Treatment:

Cerebral Palsy treatment has also gained a good amount of light via the progress in the stem cell treatment techniques. There have been several studies in the field of treatment of Cerebral Palsy with the help of stem cells of the patients which has shown considerable development of the patient’s conditions than that is usually seen.

Trials of stem cell study at the Duke University in which children with birth asphyxia were treated with their cord blood (which contains stem cells) to prevent or diminish the Cerebral Palsy along with cognitive delay in kids with damaged brain. The study shows that these children have developed far better than those who are receiving alternative treatment in the same field.

There are other studies, one in Australia, where the stored cord blood of Cerebral Palsy patients is used for the treatment. These studies are being done on older children of the age 1 to 10 years too.

However, people or patients who don’t have their cord blood stored may face some problems when it comes to this kind of Cerebral Palsy treatment. However, there are studies by neurosurgeons and neuroscientists who are conducting research on generating cord cells of patients who have not stored them for future use. There are various kinds of studies done which shows the development of a special kind of brain stem cell called Doublecortin positive cells which are now being studied upon. Although these studies are restricted to monkeys only, researchers have good faith in its success for human beings too.

There are also methods in which the bone marrow of the patient is used for the preparation of brain cells that will ultimately be used for the benefit of Cerebral Palsy patients. One such research has shown that bone marrow can be used for the preparation of brain stem cells which can be utilized for slowing down the progression of Multiple Sclerosis disease.

Although there are certain conventional and proven methods of treating Cerebral Palsy present in the medical world, it is exciting to see that the medical researchers are taking interest in further improvement of the treatment techniques. With the enhancement of the techniques and combination of several methods of treatment, Cerebral Palsy will be effectively treated in the near future and we hope that the kids will be able to lead a healthy and normal life like all of us.