Cerebral Palsy and Yoga for Children
Cerebral Palsy and Yoga for Children by ShareLove.Fund’s Rainbow Women Social Enterprise endeavor and sponsored by your generous donations.
Cerebral Palsy is one of the most common permanent disabilities affecting motor skills in childhood. It is a permanent set of conditions that is caused either by damage to the brain at a stage of development or abnormal development of the brain. Symptoms can include seizures, issues with posture and movement, intellectual disabilities, problems with speech, vision or hearing, spinal changes, or even problems with joints. Cerebral Palsy is usually classified into different types depending upon the primary movement difficulty involved.
Adaptive Yoga
Yoga for children with cerebral palsy is not exactly the same as the yoga that people who don’t have cerebral palsy. It is obvious that with the physical limitations that the condition imposes, it's not always possible for children to do complex poses. This is where adaptive yoga comes in. As the name suggests, the practice adapts regular poses into something that children with cerebral palsy can do. This can involve everything from helping children move their limbs during the poses to adapting the poses to chairs for those children who need to use wheelchairs.
Benefits of Adaptive Yoga
Better Motor Coordination– several prison inmates show signs of depression and violent behaviour resulting from traumatic experiences yoga is offered as a complementary method of recovery. It helps individuals to overcome anxiety, depression, and aggressive behavior. An Oxford University study has revealed the benefits of yoga on the psychological well-being of prisoners.
Better Breathing –Often, children with cerebral palsy have poor posture from sitting continuously in a wheel chair or because there is lack of stability in the core or trunk. Yoga poses help improve the breathing by opening the front of the body and the diaphragm. This means that children can breathe far more deeply and rhythmically.
Improved Muscle Tone – A common condition many children with cerebral palsy have to deal with is spasticity and high muscle tone. The gentle stretches that yoga introduces these children to can help them relax, breathe deeply and open up tightened parts of the body while reducing spasticity. There are certain poses that can target areas of the body low in muscle tone and help improve it.
Improved Focus -Yoga exercises tend to emphasize mindfulness, part of which is awareness of your breath and body. Poses that involve crossing the midline or moving into the midline help the left and right side of the brain communicate and coordinate better. These, in turn, boost concentration, cognition and focus.
Better Self-Regulation - Cerebral palsy poses quite a few challenges for children leaving them feeling frustrated and maybe even irritated or angry. However, they are unable to express these emotions in an appropriate manner, leading to behavioral issues. The poses and breathing strategies adaptive yoga teaches them can help them release these emotions allowing them to regulate themselves emotionally when needed.
Caregivers require patience and understanding while teaching adaptive yoga to children with cerebral palsy. Practicing the poses together with the child can help both the caregiver and the child and improve their connection.