Interdisciplinary, Intensive, Activity-Based Treatment for Intrauterine Spinal Cord Infarct: A Case Report

Intrauterine spinal cord infarcts (IUSCI) are very rare, especially resulting in tetraplegia. There's not much information on how people with this condition progress, especially in terms of functional therapeutic outcomes. This paper presents a case study about a 3-year-old girl with IUSCI who underwent activity-based therapies (ABT). ABT involves interventions that activate the neuro-muscular system below the level of the lesion to retrain the nervous system for motor tasks. It includes weight bearing, functional electrical stimulation, locomotor training, massed practice, and task-specific practice. The child in the case study showed steady improvements in gross motor skills, neck strength and control, rolling, sitting balance, and prone scooting through intensive, interdisciplinary ABT (occupational therapy, physical therapy, and aquatic therapy).

• 1
  The 3-year-old girl with IUSCI demonstrated improvements in developmental milestone achievement including fine and gross motor skills and social/cognitive development after participating in activity-based therapies (ABT).
• 2
  The child developed lower extremity sensory responses to tactile stimulation, volitional stepping, trunk and neck strength sufficient to support herself against gravity for up to 40 seconds, and upper extremity bilateral coordination for developmental play and fine motor skills.
• 3
  The child experienced only one hospitalization due to respiratory syncytial virus and pneumonia over 3 years of ABT, suggesting a potential positive impact on overall health and well-being.