Effectiveness of tactile-spatial oriented approach based paediatric occupational therapy intervention for children with Infantile Hemiplegia

Abstract

Background: Infantile hemiplegia refers to brain injuries that occur in either high-risk infants, leading to hemiplegia or total paralysis of one side of the body, including the upper and lower extremities. The main purpose of this article is to provide valuable information to paediatric occupational therapists about Tactilespatial Oriented Approach and treatment alternatives for patients with infantile hemiplegia. Objective: To assess the functionality of the affected upper and lower limb in infants diagnosed with hemiplegia aged between 0 and 2 years after applying Tactile-spatial Oriented Approach Therapy.

Objective: To assess the functionality of the affected upper and lower limb in infants diagnosed with hemiplegia aged between 0 and 2 years after applying Tactile-spatial Oriented Approach Therapy.

Methods: This was a prospective case study. A Tactile-spatial Oriented Approach protocol was applied for 3 Months, with one hour of restraint (activities not engaging for unaffected side) per day. The study variables included the quality of functional ability of the upper limb, recurrent use, participation of the affected upper limb in self-care and unstructured activities, active joint position, hand grasp– release action, hand grasp strength, supination, and extension elbow movements (tactile-vestibular oriented). Four measurements were performed to assess functional ability based on the Functional Status Score (FSS) and activity based configurational developmental checklist (ABCD-C).

Results: The subject was an infant with moderate manual, activity based configurational developmental checklist (ABCD-C). Statistically significant differences were detected in all studied variables (p < 0.001) between the pre-treatment and posttreatment results (12 weeks), except for upper limb dressing and putting on lower body dressing. In the 8–12-week period, the changes were statistically extremely significant, except for protective extension, grasp strength, grasp–release, and all functional variables (level of functionality and participation of the patient’s upper limbs) in the FSS Evaluation (p < 0.0001). The greatest increase occurred in muscle tone spontaneous use from pre-assessment to postassessment (p = 0.001), reaching 88.87% active participation in bimanual sensory tasks. The quality of movement of the upper limb exhibited significant improvement due to the increase in dissociated movements and range of motion (p = 0.0702).

Conclusion: A Tactile-spatial Oriented Approach (50 hours) l increased the functionality of infants diagnosed with hemiplegia between birth and 1 year of age with moderate activities ability