Making Sense, Part C

SO:

We’ve got these nouns-with-modifiers: a Benik vest, elastic therapeutic tape, the so-called suit method, and so on. What, if anything, do these have significantly in common? 

For one, they’re proffered and promoted as helpful for kids with CP -- which is quite a claim. I should say right off the bat that the couple of PTs I know aren't as "gung ho" as the marketers of these products are about the promises they hold. Nor am I completely sold either, especially after reading some pretty un-scientific explanations as to how they work.

NEVERTHELESS:

I’m willing to suspend disbelief and be open to the possibility that one or more of the above products could make a difference. Why? Primarily due to something I've experienced firsthand while trying to help my own daughter. 

SPECIFICALLY: 

Some time ago I recognized that when I immobilize my daughter's shoulder girdle she’s able to consistently pick her head up. Fairly easily. I don’t know all the mechanisms involved* but I'd bet there's a basic biomechanical explanation along the lines that I must be supplying some (compensative) force that she hasn’t figured out yet how to supply on her own.

Shouldn't it follow, then, that these devices -- also external to and in contact with the body -- could do the same work as a pair of hands in helping a child move and/ or support herself? It seems worth looking into. And worth trying to give more shape to what strikes me as a disordered product landscape.

That to follow.

* I’m sure there are lots and lots of people who could explain. Any wise physiatrist, for example. Or the folks behind the Rifton Elbow Anchor…