Kinesiotaping in cerebral palsy rehabilitation

BACKGROUND: Cerebral palsy is a disease caused by a perinatal lesion of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by a violation of static and dynamic functions. The combination of speech, motor, and mental disorders indicate the need for a comprehensive approach to disease treatment. Numerous studies have been devoted to functional disorder restoration and orthopedic correction in children with cerebral palsy. Among the publications devoted to the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy, there are no works with the leading role of kinesiotaping. This work is related to the need to revise the method application in cerebral palsy, considering the laws of regulatory activity of the CNS and the pathological disease physiology.

AIM: This study aimed to demonstrate a highly effective approach to kinesiotaping application from the physiology point of view and the laws of pathological regulatory dependence of the CNS in cerebral palsy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We have observed 157 patients diagnosed with: «Spastic diplegia (Little's disease), double hemiplegia, hemiparetic form of cerebral palsy, hyperkinetic form of cerebral palsy; atonic-astatic form of cerebral palsy (classification according to K.A. Semenova)". We used a clinical neurological and orthopedic examination with an assessment of motor development according to the scale of ontogenetic development, standard scales and tests for assessing the state of the muscles. Taping courses were conducted as a rehabilitation method.

RESULTS: The study results revealed numerous improvements in the clinical picture of cerebral palsy in completely different disease forms and the pathology severity. Some regularities of the method application have been developed and formulated at the Department of Rehabilitation, Sports Medicine, and Physical Culture of the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University (Moscow) since 2011 and its effectiveness has been confirmed by interested specialists in improving the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs for cerebral palsy.

CONCLUSION: The kinesiotaping technique has a pronounced effect on many acts of physiological activity that are not related to the motor activity of the CNS. The taping method results have a long-lasting effect, fixed by changes in the work of the CNS over a subsequent long period (at least 3–6 months). From our point of view, teaching kinesiotaping to parents of children with cerebral palsy ensures the continuity of the rehabilitation treatment process, as well as the possibility of long-term dynamic monitoring of patients to assess the effectiveness of the method.