Children with neurological disorders respond positively to rehabilitation programme new to UAE

After years of hopping from one healthcare facility to the next desperately seeking treatment for his son’s muscular atrophy, Hisham Shaaban was stunned to see him perform tasks for himself for the first time.

“My son Ahmad has been receiving treatment for four years but it did not lead to significant improvement,” the 45-year-old Yemeni said.

Ahmad, 14, is wheelchair-bound and struggles to perform simple tasks such as using a spoon to feed himself.

His condition improved on the third day of treatment at the Cambridge Medical Rehabilitation Clinic using the Kozyavkin Method - an intensive neuro-rehabilitation programme that has been used to treat 70,000 cases since it has been founded by a Ukrainian professor 30 years ago.Ahmad was one of the first eight children to undergo the intensive two-week treatment at CMRC’s Al Ain campus in November. The hospital is the first and only in the UAE to offer the programme.

The method focuses on a subset of children and young adults with spasticity complex issues – a condition whereby certain muscles are continuously contracted - related to neurological disorders, said Dr Howard Podolsky, chief executive of CMRC.

These include children who have difficulty walking, standing, sitting straight, and suffer from bad posture and head control.

“Even contractions in hands and wrists and elbows can be very problematic for a child to function at home or at school,” Dr Podolsky said.

The stiffness caused by the contracted muscles is often treated with muscle relaxants and even Botox.

The programme combines spinal manipulation, intensive physiotherapy, occupational and massage therapy to break down the stiffness in the muscles and allow for more functional movement.

“It doesn’t mean that every child who cannot walk will be able to walk, but surely they [Kozyavkin therapists] do an incredible job in adding an increasing functionality for the children and young adults that they treat,” Dr Podolsky said.