In cerebral palsy (CP) muscles are often shortened so much that they restrict joint range of motion and the muscles themselves are weak. Thus, ‘shortness’ and ‘weakness’ are two important needs that clinicians must address.
Bimanual therapy, also referred to as intensive bimanual training, engages patients in active play or practice to improve the use and coordination of both hands. Bimanual therapy is different from similar unimanual therapies, like constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT), because it promotes simultaneous use of both hands.
When treating a child with CP, part of a pediatrician’s job is assessing and treating children with abnormal tone difficulties, as well as other muscular-skeletal problems. From around the age of two years, kids start to develop difficulties with muscle tone that can have an impact on their hip development.