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CIMT is a specialist therapy for children suffering from hemiplegia.
It involves constraining their non-effected arm
to help them focus on using their effected arm in day to day activities.
It's an intensive short program and it's supported by an overwhelming amount of ro-bust evidence
Normaly the programs last for three weeks
erm, it involves the child coming in for physiotherapy five days a week for three hours at a time.
So it's intensive and short.
It involves the child wearing a non-removable cast for the whole duration of the program
Which is changed twice in the meantime to check for skin irritation.
All the sections are lead by neurological physiotherapist and occupational therapist
the sessions are play based and focus on all aspects of movement
including growing movements, fine movements, weight baring and dexterity
CIMT offers the child numerous benefits.
Most importantly we are seeing the children using their effected arm
for activities that they never thought were possible.
Parents are often astonished of what can be achieved in such a short space of time.
The improved strength and new movement help the children to become more functional.
They can achieve new activities that they weren't previously able to
such as feeding
and dressing.
This gives them more independence which is especially important as the child gets older and might be nearing school age.
parents often comment by the end of the program that the results exceeded their expectations.
and also that it effected other areas such as their child's walking ability and balance.
We expect every child to make improvements during their programme
The level of improvement will depend on their starting point and also other factors such as their willingness to engage with their therapist
However, we always set appropriate goals at the beginning of each program and discuss this in depth with each parent
To try and give you a realistic expectation of what may be achieved