Benefits of advanced rehabilitation technology include:

• High dose repetitions: Rewiring brain to create new neural connections is possible, thanks to neuroplasticity. By circumventing the damaged areas, patients can develop alternative neuropathways that can make correct movement easier. Therapy using advanced rehabilitation technology provides the high dose repetitions pediatric patients need to strengthen those pathways. 
• Makes therapy fun: With interactive games and virtual reality, advanced rehabilitation therapy devices can hold a child’s attention. Instead of repeating monotonous movements, children have fun during therapy. Patients race a car, shoot balloons or harvest apples and still make progress in therapy. The movement may be the same, but the child will consider it a time of play. 
• Real-time feedback: Advanced rehabilitation therapy devices provide real-time feedback. This can help therapists to determine when to increase the difficulty of their exercises and challenge the child to do more. Additionally, children are eager to beat themselves from session to session. 

Advances and benefits of technology-based therapeutic devices allow pediatric patients with cerebral palsy, stroke, or spinal cord injury, to make great progress during rehabilitation.

One of the most common pediatric motor disabilities, cerebral palsy (CP), causes patients to struggle with activities of daily living (ADL). Walking, eating, or dressing can be problematic.

Whether from prematurity, low birth weight, or in-utero stroke, CP almost always requires a child to undergo years of neurological rehabilitation. 

The goal of therapy is to allow children to participate in family, community, and educational environment as much as possible. 

Cerebral palsy can limit upper extremity control and cause Ataxia (lack of muscle control or coordination). The limitations that come with the inability to control arms, hands, or fingers can complicate ADLs. Some children with CP also struggle to synchronize small muscles and perform tasks such as holding a key or grasping a handle. 

The more a child practices, the better he or she will get. This is also true for fine motor skills. Advanced rehabilitation devices make it for children easier to stick to monotonous tasks. 

MYRO includes real-life objects and offers the possibility to train press-, pull- and rotation-movements as well as cognitive abilities. While playing, children expand their range of motion (ROM), motor function, and strength. These movements also help stimulate the brain and reinforce new neuropathways.

Children with CP may also have trouble maintaining balance, posture, and coordination. Many require gait therapy to improve postural control, loading symmetry, and weight shifting while limiting compensation. Sensory devices like TYMO and robotic gait trainer like LEXO provide children support during gait therapy. 

Especially in the therapy with children, motivation is crucial. The playful approach, fostered by advanced rehabilitation devices, help to keep motivation level high during therapy.

Pediatric stroke is relatively rare – affecting approximately 25 out of every 100,000 newborns and 12 out of every 100,000 children under 18 years of age. Pediatric stroke survivors face many challenges, including hemiplegia or hemiparesis, epilepsy, or cognitive difficulties. 

As these children develop and grow, physical and occupational therapies play a crucial role in expanding the limits of what the child will be able to do. 

For patients with hemiplegia or hemiparesis, robotic therapy has proven effective for hand rehabilitation. A study that measured the success of robotic therapy in children with hemiparesis found “significant improvements in bimanual hand use, as well as impairment-based scales.” The participants were able to transition these skills into real-life play. This type of finding can provide hope to children with a more severe form of hemiplegia.

Spinal cord injuries affect approximately 2 out of every 100,000 children. Diving into a shallow pool, sustaining a sports injury, or being involved in a car accident are the top three causes of pediatric spinal cord injury. 

Unfortunately, these accidents cause potentially permanent impairments. A spinal cord injury leaves a patient needing to relearn the actions and movements that once seemed so natural. For a child or teen, this new disability can be devastating.

Advanced rehabilitation therapy can help. It can stop further atrophy or stiffening of muscles, depending on the location and severity of the injury. In addition, children can adapt to do things differently. Compensation strategies or re-learning of specific motor skills through neuroplastic change can help. 

Interactive devices address visual, cognitive, and motor ability weakness through gaming. While children have fun, they are simultaneously participating in active rehabilitation and increasing the chance to make improvements.

Modern therapy devices allow children to train in a playful way. Therapy programs look and feel a lot like computer or console games. All of a sudden, therapy isn´t that frightening anymore. These devices prove that fun and monotonous therapy tasks can be combined. 

Modern rehabilitation devices encourage a children’s natural play instincts. They practice necessary movements and have fun in therapy. Motivation increases. The children want to get better and better. Beating their own high score becomes the goal. The improvements children may see after physical or occupational therapy can instill a sense of self-confidence and foster independence. 

The next few years will bring further progress in the rehabilitation of children and adolescents. This gives hope to young patients and parents.

Sources: 

Effects of interactive robot-enhanced hand rehabilitation in treatment of paediatric hand-burns: A randomized, controlled trial with 3-months follow-up (2020) 

Devices and Protocols for Upper Limb Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation of Children with Neuromotor Disorders (2019) 

The effect of interactive computer play on balance and functional abilities in children with moderate cerebral palsy: a pilot randomized study (2019)

Hand Robotic Therapy in Children with Hemiparesis: A Pilot Study (2017)

Does Interactive Hand Rehabilitation Experiences an Improvement of Upper Limb Function in Hemiplegic Children? A Double Blind Randomized Controlled Trial (2016)