Therapy

The Scotson Technique -
Teaching Programme

The Scotson Technique provides a fundamental step by step improvement in the muscular skeletal deformities of cerebral palsy and is therefore the principal rehabilitation intervention of the Scotson Technique system.

At Advance parents become students in the practice and theoretical background necessary to deliver a high quality restorative exercise programme for their children.

Before and after birth and throughout infancy individual muscles and co-ordinating groups of muscles are stimulated in stages by gentle pressures from the external forces that surround them. This external stimulation enhances blood flow to the muscles. Increased blood flow creates an enhanced electrical current like a louder voice that can be picked up by the brain. Only when the brain can identify the muscle’s existence and whereabouts can a command signal be sent from the brain and received by the muscle.

After birth the internal pressures from the baby’s breathing begins a lifelong process of muscle strengthening and the establishment and maintenance of neurological connections between the brain and the body’s tissues.

The Scotson Technique begins by gradually restoring the weak underdeveloped tissues of the diaphragm muscle. This initiates the restorative development of the upper and lower respiratory muscles and the connective tissues between the spinal vertebrae and the shoulder and pelvic girdles which respond increasingly to signals from the central nervous system.

During the course of normal development, increasing respiratory strength develops the muscular skeletal infrastructure of the infant’s trunk, which in turn supports each stage of functional ability.

The Scotson Technique seeks to recreate the essential stages of the development of the child’s respiratory system and muscular skeletal structure as it would normally occur over the first year of life. This “recreation” changes the body of a child or young person with cerebral palsy or other neurological abnormality so that their spontaneous activity is gradually able to become a positive drive towards normal development as it is in healthy children.

At the centre parents are taught the light, gentle, hand pressures that will restore the integrity of the diaphragm to increasingly meet the metabolic needs both of the growing muscles and internal organs and of the developing brain.

To help parents perform the exercises on their child, Scotson trained therapists will also work on the parents and parents will work on the therapists as well as working with their children. In this way, when families return home they have absolute confidence in their own abilities to carry out the therapy. As the children improve, the therapy evolves, allowing an increased enhancement of the children’s physical structure and motor and cognitive abilities. Parents are encouraged to keep good contact with the centre between visits and all questions are answered so that the household fully understands the restorative programme and what will be predicted next and why. Help is also given on diet and lifestyle, which can be of considerable support to the restorative process.

Therapy