Joe’s Blog!
Earlier this year, I received a message through my website from a lady who asked if I could help with training her 12 year old son, Joe. Nothing out of the ordinary there but as I read on, I found that Joe was suffering from a condition called Spastic Cerebral Palsy (CP).
For those who don’t know much about CP, it is a general term to describe a number of neurological conditions affecting about 1 in 400 people in the UK. CP affects muscle movement and coordination with symptoms such as muscle stiffness/weakness, uncontrolled movements and balance issues. The most common form of CP (affecting 75-88% of those diagnosed) is Spastic CP which refers to the spasticity or the tight/stiff muscle tone (hypertonia) that decreases the range of movement. This can affect various parts of the body and cause considerable pain due to muscles going into spasm.
Joe was due to undergo a commonly used surgical procedure to release tight hip adductor and flexor muscles (in and around the groin area). This would allow improved mobility in the hips, particularly hip abduction (outward movement of the hips) and extension (straightening of the hips).
As an S&C coach, there is a lot to consider with any client but this was certainly going to be a challenge which required careful consideration! I immediately looked into the studies where exercise interventions had been used with young CP sufferers and there were various papers suggesting that suitable strength training could improve motor activity as well as other physical and psychological factors. I also had the opportunity to discuss possible training strategies with a highly experience S&C coach, Dean Fouache who has worked with hundreds of CP sufferers in recent years. We came up with some great exercises to use in Joe’s training plan to help improve his strength qualities and increase his walking ability.
Since then, Joe has made some fantastic improvements through a combination of physio and S&C training which is really great to see! Joe really is an extraordinary young lad who has been working incredibly hard in training! Check out the videos below to see how Joe is progressing! I’m looking forward to working with Joe in the future!
February 2015
March 2015
April 2015