The Best Exercises for People With Cerebral Palsy

Exercise doesn't have to feel clinical or boring, in fact its more effective when sessions are playful, creative and engaging to the individual. introducing fun, game-based activites can transform the way someone builds strength and confidence. 

In this blog, we'll explore some of the best exercises for people with CP, from balloon tennis to animal crawls, and why these movements are so powerful for building mobility and independance. 

Why Functional Exercise Matters in Cerebral Palsy 

Functional exercises are movements that support everyday activieis like walking, standing, climbing, reaching or balance. For some with CP, these skills can make faily life feel safer, smoother and more independant. 

Function training aims to improve: 

• strength 
• balance and coordination 
• motor planning 
• posture and stability 
• hand eye coordination 
• confidence in movement

Key Areas to Train

• lower limb strength - this is for walking, climbing and standing 
• core strength - for posture and stability 
• balance - to help reduce falls and increase confidence in activities 
• co-ordination - to help safe movement 
• bilateral movement - using both sides of the body 
• gait quality - for more efficient walking 
  

So what exercises are good to use?

1. Sit to stand

        This is an every day movement so something that can easily transfer in to every day life. I use this alot as its also the precurser to doing squats which is a great compound lifting movement that everyone should be able to do. It helps strengthen muscles in the lower limbs such as the quads, hamstrings and glutes. You can create games with this by adding bean bags, balloons, medball throws, point scoring systems, its endless what you can do with a sit to stand. 

2. Knee extensions with Ankle Weights 

        This builds strength in the quads and improves toe lift control from the ground which contributes to improving gait. I like to add a bean bag to balance on the top of the foot and set out a goal, bucket or target for the children to try and get the bean bag into.

3. Boxing drills 

    These are dynamic and motivating for all ages, any child putting on a pair of boxing gloves has a bit of fun with this. It helps enhance upper body strength, coordination, bilateral movement and also cardiovascualr fitness, this can be done seated, standing or on high knees to we are able to target a number of different things at the same time. 

4. Animal Crawls. 

    Bear crawls, crab walks, frog jumps, all allow me to create fun movement patterns without it being a 'hard core workout'. They help children build full body strrength, their trunk control, mobility and also start to build skills and the basis for skills such as jumping. 

So what about balance and coordination acitivies? 

1. Balancing on beams

     this you can actually start with just a line of tape on the floor, this starts to get the childrne thinking about moving along a line without them having the fear factor of falling off of anything. You can then progress this to floor level beams and slowly getting higher off the ground. This helps them improve their stability, movement control and their balance. Also adding in obstacles to step over whilst on the beams or small objects to collect along the way adds to the layers of the exercise and can get other elements targeted. 

2. Swiss Ball "Aeroplanes" 

    Laying on a swiss ball whilst lifting arms and legs like an aeroplane. I have used this one and gone on pretend holidays which has been good because when you then arrive in the country that you are flying to you can use other exercises and create other storylines to get exercises completed. This is a really good exercise to help core strenght, posteural control and developing back muscles.

3. Balloon Tennis 

    This is an all time favourite. All the children I work with love playing a bit of tennis. It helps work on reaction time, balance, coordination and their shoulder moblity. To keep this interesting I use different rules for everyone. Stopping the balloon from hitting the floor, using hands, using rackets, changing the types of rackets to make them heavier or lighter. 

4. Target Games 

    Throwing or kicking different objects such as bean bags and balls and aiming for different goals or buckets. This helps build coordination, accuracy and movement control in a fun way. 

It's also important to do activities such as jumping, stepping and different agility drills. Below are some exmaples of those that can be done: 

1. Jumping Over Hurdles

    This is something that can be worked towards if not possible initially, so just jumping on spots, or jumping off the ground to start. Once the movement has been achieved, using hurdles is a good way to get the children to target how high they are jumping off the ground. This helps build their power. Adding stroylines in such as jumping over the lava can help to increase engagement. 

2. Trampoline Activies 

    Really great for helping build rhythm with jumping, as well as balance and confidence. They can be used to just gently move with small bouncing whilst sitting or they can be used to generate more height. Both trampolines that are big and for the garden but also the small indoor trampolines are good!

3. Climbing on Apparatus

    Steps, soft play, ladders, low climbing frames, balance along beams, all these things ar great not just to help imrpvoe stregnth, grip, balance and core activation but also to build confidence in being able to move and support their own body. You can turn this in to an obstacle course to make this extra fun!

4. Obstacle Course

     This can combine alot of the exercises together. Crawling, stepping, balancing, throwing, jumping just working on lots of different things can help develop lots of skills for the children. It also stops it feeling like therapy and becomes more like play so this can also help focus and motivation to do the sessions!

So how can we make this more fun for kids?

• Turn exercsies into games or challenges
• Use stories, characters or imaginative play 
• Let the child choose the next activity 
• Use timers, music, colours, balloons, cones or soft play equipment 
• Keep sessions varied and fresh 

The more fun the movement is the more likely the children will want to participate!

Building sessions that are fun, that support mobility, strength and independence in people with cerebral palsy is the best way to be the most effective. When these movements are combined with creativity, and game based play the benefits are great!

Wehther its balloon tennis, animal crawls, obstacle courses the goal is always the same: building movement skills in a fun, empowering and meaningful way!