Walking tall with Vojta

       Breakthrough treatment arrives in Thailand to give hope to disabled kids
       Sirindhorn National Medical Rehabilitation Centre (SNMRC) yesterday teamed up with the University of Heidelberg's Orthopaedic Hospital to give children born with limb deficiency a better chance of walking and growing up to lead active lives.
       Over the past 15 years, Thailand has recorded 114,381 cases of children with disabilities, many of them with multiple physical impairments.
       200 medics to be trained
       SNMRC's director, Dr Daranee Suvapan, said that under the collaboration about 200 healthcare practitioners will be sent on a threeday seminar given by German experts to learn a new multidisciplinary approach to treatment for mobilityimpaired children.
       The new treatment is dubbed the Vojta Therapy after its originator Dr Vaclav Vojta, a Czech neurologist concerned with problems of motor rehabilitation.
       Initially used to treat children with cerebral palsy, Vojta Therapy is well regarded across Europe and Japan. Rather than training the body directly, Vojta Therapy stimulates the brain to create coordinated movements that aid functions such as balance, gait, grasping and speech.
       Daranee said the therapy would provide an alternative treatment for complex problems that are better tackled with a multidisciplinary approach. Cases of stroke, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy and amputation would also benefit from the longterm followup care offered by Vojta Therapy, she added.
       Thailand currently has 300 medics specialising in physical rehabilitation, but many of them lack the skills to diagnose disease, evaluate function, set goals and monitor a child's development.
       "We need to develop our medical worker's skills to a level where they can diagnose disease and provide appropriate care to patients," said Daranee.