Daily Outpatient Physical Therapy for a Toddler With a Neurodegenerative Disease: A Case Report.
Rachel Bican, Rachel Ferrante, Sarah Hendershot and 3 others
PMID 35385464WHAT IT FOUND
A toddler with a rare neurodegenerative disease improved in motor skills after daily two-hour physical therapy.
The child attended 17 of 20 sessions and showed gains in gross and fine motor function, as well as untargeted areas like cognition, suggesting high-dose care may be feasible.
Key findings
01The child completed 17 of the 20 prescribed therapy sessions, averaging 92.8 minutes per session.
02Gross motor function improved on the GMFM-88, with a 9-point increase in lying/rolling and a 1-point increase in sitting immediately after the intervention.
03Improvements were seen in Bayley-III domains not directly targeted by the therapy, including cognition and language.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This is a single case report, so the results cannot be generalized to other children. The child was not randomized, and there was no control group, making it difficult to determine if the improvements were due to the therapy or natural development. The specific contribution of the home exercise program versus the clinic-based therapy cannot be separated. The condition is extremely rare, and the natural history of motor decline in this specific genetic disorder is not fully understood.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest. The study was supported by NIH and non-U.S. government research grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that daily high-dose therapy will produce similar results for other children with neurodegenerative diseases. This is a single case report, and the observed improvements cannot be separated from natural development or the effects of the home exercise program.