Sports & Leisure
Therapeutic Hobbies
Who Says I Can’t?
July 27, 2003
by Dianne Hales
not only to stand and walk but also to s-o-a-r.
At first glance, the eager-eyed children look like any other kids practicing their moves. Yet some wear leg braces. Muscle contractions contort the arms and hands of others. In this class, it doesn't matter that the students have cerebral palsy (CP), a movement disorder that garbles communication between the brain and muscles. They're learning what none of them imagined they ever could: martial arts.
"I can't do it!" wails one boy. Dr. Jan Brunstrom, a green belt who started a special martial-arts program for children with CP, looks him in the eye. "Can't isn't in my vocabulary," she tells him, "and it shouldn't be in yours."
This is no mere pep talk. The petite, 40-year-old physician has cerebral palsy herself. "All my life, people told me what I couldn't do," she explains. "They said I'd never walk, but I did. They said I didn't belong in school, but I graduated high school as valedictorian at 16 and went on to become a pediatric neurologist. They thought I'd never marry or have a child, but I did. No one has the right to tell people with CP what they can or can't do."
This never-say-never philosophy is what sets apart the Pediatric Neurology Cerebral Palsy Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital, founded by Dr. Brunstrom in 1998. With 1500 patients from around the world, it offers state-of-the-art therapies and stresses physical fitness. "I tell the kids, `It's not fair that you have CP, but you also have two choices: You can crawl into a comer until you die, or you can fight back."' Jan Brunstrom has been fighting back for as long as she can remember.
A Born Fighter
Brunstrom was born three months premature, weighing little more than 3 pounds. The doctors said she would not survive. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 2, she underwent drastic treatments, such as submersion in a tub of crushed ice. For years, she wore "really horrible" braces, including hip waders made of metal twister cables. As a teen, Brunstrom defied doctors and took up swimming. "I found that I moved better in water," she says. Three operations-at 16, 20 and 27-freed her from braces, although she walks with a limp. Nevertheless, she has forged beyond all limits. She earned her M.D. from the Medical College of Virginia, then completed a five-year residency program in pediatrics and neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She was married for 12 years to another physician and in 1993 gave birth to a son, Ian, whom she describes as "the single greatest gift that I have ever, ever been given." Concerned for Ian's and her own safety after a carjacking, Brunstrom took up martial arts.
Getting Physical
"I had to lean against the wall at first, because my balance wasn't good enough to throw a punch without falling over," recalls Brunstrom. "Three months later, I stood in the middle of the room and did moves." As she saw her physical fitness improve, she knew that she could offer children with CP something they needed above all else: hope. Brunstrom refocused her clinical practice in 1998 to work exclusively with kids with CP.
"Our daughter, Mariah, who's 9, has had four operations to make her legs and arms less stiff, and she also does occupational and physical therapy twice a week," says Cindy Schott of Kelso, Mo. "At our first visit, I guess I was being too protective. Dr. Brunstrom said, `Why did you pick up Mariah to get her in the walker?' She instills independence and sees that our daughter can do something with her life."
NEW HELP FOR CP
Cerebral Palsy affects 1 million people in the U.S., 200,000 of whom are children.
New treatments like these offer relief:
- Injections of the toxic substance botox temporarily relax muscles, allowing for more effective physical therapy.
- A medication called Baclofen, which is now administered directly into the spinal fluid by a pump to lessen its side effects, relaxes stiff muscles.
- Computerized voice-activation systems allow patients who have problems with speech to communicate more clearly.
- Brain electronic-stimulation devices may prevent abnormal movements.
To learn more, contact UCP at 1-800-872-5827.
Reprinted with permission from Parade and Dianne Hales © 2003. All rights reserved.