2005 Volume 14 Issue 4 Pages 171-178
This study assesses successively the changes in gross movement by hospital treatment with intensive functional training for 1-2 months according to the objective assessment criteria, the gross motor function measure (GMFM), which is commonly accepted as the global standard. Intensive functional training was carried out on its own in institutions other than the principal author’s, or together with low reactive-level IR diode laser therapy (LLLT) in the Shinano Handicapped Children’s Hospital, and the efficacy of the two approaches was compared. The severity of the disease was classified according to the gross motor function classification system (GMFCS). When the development of motor function was compared separately by disease severity with the cross-sectional motor growth curve, in the cases of the GMFCS level III a significant improvement was observed in patients of up to around age 8 . A significant improvement was observed inpatients of up to around 8 years old, especially up to 3 years old, when compared with the cross-sectional motor growth curve even when the GMFCS level was IV. When compared with patients at other rehabilitation and training sites, where only functional training therapy was applied without LLLT, the efficacy of intensive functional training was clearly enhanced in combination with LLLT.
