Current Physical Therapy Status for the Children with Cerebral Palsy in Korea

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Treatment of children with cerebral palsy needs much time and effort, so it is very hard for many patients to get hospital based treatment. To develop the home treatment program with the parents, we tried to elucidate the current difficulties to which therapists were facing during the treatment of cerebral palsies. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was performed to 250 physical therapists in 110 hospitals with a questionaire by mail. Sixty two universities and general hospitals, 37 rehabilitation centers and 31 community rehabilitation centers were involved in treatment for cerebral palsy, 51% of them are located in Seoul and Kyungi-do. RESULTS: 1) The current treatment time was 33.7 minutes, but most therapists replied that 45 minutes would be optimal. 2) Fifty four therapists (86.1%) had reviewed on introduction or basic course of the Bobath or Vojta program; the duration of the course ranged from 5 days to 1 to 2 months. 3) Fifty five cerebral palsy patients (66.7%) continued treatment for 1 to 2 years and 25% received treatment for more than 2 years. 4) Twenty nine patients (35%) received home therapy from trained parents, 75% of the cases noted significant improvement. CONCLUSION: Cerebral palsy treatment programs require more time than the actural duration of time given during therapy sessions. Thus, parent education for home therapy is considered to be an essential part of cerebral palsy management.