A study being conducted at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Munro-Meyer Institute is helping children with cerebral palsy improve their sitting skills.  The study is being funded by a $600,000 grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. It is focused on comparing two treatments, and their effect on improving sitting abilities in children with moderate to severe cerebral palsy.

The study includes a control group that receives physical therapy twice a week.  These children are compared to an experimental group which also receives the same therapy.  However, the children in the experimental group children are made to sit on mats that vibrate randomly at varying frequencies.  According to the researchers, the theory is that when the body vibrates, it increases the child's ability to sense where the body is in space.  This promotes sitting abilities. 

Early results from the study indicate a slight difference between the two groups.  Children in the experimental group with the vibrating mats seem to have improved sitting abilities compared to the other group.  Over the next couple of years, the study will determine whether there is a meaningful and strong difference between both groups.  If there is a definite improvement in the ability of children with cerebral palsy to learn how to sit with the help of these mats, doctors and therapists could recommend that children use these mats.

Arizona cerebral palsy lawyers with a strong interest in cerebral palsy know that for these children, even the most basic sitting activities can mean a lifetime of challenge.  Children with cerebral palsy have minimal posture control and spastic limbs which makes even the simple activity of sitting a significant challenge.  Hopefully, the study will show some improvements as a result of using the mats, so parents can have a device that helps them with their kids.