Locomotor Disability is one of the major disabilities found in an individual or a child. In this article, a brief explanation has been provided on Locomotor disability and their different types along with the major causes of the problem and their treatments.
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Locomotor Disability
Locomotor Disabilities are problems that are caused due to any physical or brain injuries or conditions directly affecting the central nervous system.
According to the federal guidelines of the American government, the problems come under the category of locomotor disabilities-
Orthopedic impairments, traumatic brain injury.
They are discussed below-
Orthopedic impairment
The condition of orthopedic impairment involves the muscular or skeletal system and sometimes the central nervous system. The problem existing in this system restricts or retard the mobility and movement of the person.
In the context of India, the orthopedic impairment problem is very serious because hundreds of children are being paralyzed every year due to the onset and infection of poliomyelitis in small children. Such children have problems either with their legs or in their hands. They are also called crippled children in general terms.
Orthopedic impairment limits muscular movement and mobility but these problems will vary according to the degree of disability. A student with mild impairment can function very well in the teaching-learning process and in their life situations
They need little or no special help. Students with severe disabilities will necessarily need special materials, devices, furniture, or help.
Causes and treatment of Locomotor Disability
The Loco Motor Disabilities and their treatment can be subdivided in the following manner-
The main causes and treatment of Orthopedic Disabilities are as follows-
1. Crippling caused by poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis is an acute communicable disease caused by the poliovirus. The disease can be very mild causing no apparent symptom and so severe causing acute paralysis and muscular atrophy.
Treatment:- No treatment of the disease is possible. Oral polio vaccination is the only preventive measure.
2. Muscular Dystrophy
It is actually a group of birth disorders in which the skeletal muscles progressively atrophy.
Diagnosing muscular dystrophy depends on finding elevated levels of creatine kinase (CK) in the blood. This enzyme is released by dying muscle cells. Muscular dystrophy has main four forms.
a) Pseudohy peritrophic: It accounts for 50% of the cases and is found only in boys. The disease is diagnosed at an early age when the child begins to walk. The disorder progresses day by day and reaches its peak in adolescence when the victim is seen in a wheelchair.
b) Facioscapulohumeral: It occurs in both males and females. It weakness shoulders and arms more than the legs. Its early symptoms are inability to whistle, abnormal facial movements when laughing or crying, etc. Since legs are affected less by this disease, the victim lives normally throughout his life.
c) Limb Kindle Dystrophy: Its progress is very slow. It often causes only slight disability. Muscle weakness first appears in the upper arms and pelvis. Poor balance and the inability to raise arms are other symptoms of the disease. It happens at the age of 6.
d) Mixed Dystrophy: It occurs between the age of 30-50. It affects all voluntary muscles. The rapid deterioration in muscles is seen within a year.
Treatment: We can not stop the progressive impairment associated with these forms of dystrophy by giving any treatment. The victims are ultimately given walkers or wheelchairs but the use of these appliances should be avoided as long as possible in order to maintain the remaining strength of muscles.
3. Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
There is no known cause of the disease. It is the disorder of those tissues which connect bones. Due to this, pain in all joints of the body is experienced. The three major forms of the disease are given below
a) Systemic: Here individual develops a sudden fever. rashes, chills, enlarged spleen and liver, tender and stiff joints. Those who have a severe form of this disease may be crippled for a very long period.
b) Polyanticular: Excess articulating disease.
c) Pauciarticular: Articulation less than required.
Treatment: All these forms of the disease can be treated by using AyurvediC medicines.
4. Osteogenesis Imperfecta
It is a hereditary disorder that makes the bones of the child or adolescents very brittle. This disease also occurs in two forms. In a rare form, fractured bones are present at birth. At this stage, the infant generally dies within few weeks. in the common form, the child develops fractures after the first year of his life. It forms of the disease 1s severe, children can not participate in sports activities in any way. treatment Preventing injury is the only precautionary measure so far,
5. Osteomyelitis
It is an inflammation of the bone marrow that occurs more often in children than girls. It starts when a person is bruised in some way and at the same time has an infection. The infection reaches the hematoma caused by the injury. Then this infection spread through the bones to other parts of the body. Bones of arms and legs are especially affected. This disease can also cause underdeveloped bones.
Treatment: Can not of spreading infections by giving high antibiotic medicines.
6. Legg calve perthes
It affects the head of the femur, the upper bone in the leg. The interrupted blood flow causes the head of the femur to degenerate. The disease mostly occurs in boys at the age of 4. Those who suffer from this disease show a persistent limp that becomes more severe over a period of time. In severe form of the disease, the children can not participate even in routine classroom activities.
Treatment: It is not curable at all.
7. Limb Deficiencies
It is the loss of one or more limbs even at the time of birth or later. Limb deficiency can occur due to accident on illness. The severe form of the disease affects the participation of children in routine classroom activities badly.
Treatment: It is curable to a little extent through surgery provided that the deficiency is not by birth.
8. Neurological Disorder
The nervous system coordinates and directs various functions of the body. This system consists of nerves, the central nervous system (oral and spinal cord) peripheral nervous system, and the automatic nervous system. Each of the components controls various aspects of our behaving.
Treatment: No known treatment of the disease is available.
9. Epilepsy
Its incidence is very high (about 1% of the population). It is caused by recurring seizures which are actually abnormal discharges of electrical impulses of the brain. The seizure is followed by a brief loss of consciousness. The grand mal seizures typically begin with a loud cry. Then the person falls to the ground, he becomes unconscious and his body stiffens. Tongue biting, loss of bowel control, labored breathing, temporary stop of breathing followed by rapid breathing, and blue to the purple coloring of the skin, etc. are some other symptoms of these seizures. It can last for few minutes and can frighten the others.
Treatment: No permanent cure for the disease has been seen so far by the use of medicine. The problem is automatically reduced after the age of 25. Undiagnosed seizures can be mistaken for daydreaming or temper tantrums. There are many side effects of epilepsy medications seen such as drowsiness, lethargy, intellectual dullness, behavioral and sleep disturbances, etc. so school teachers should take all these symptoms into the account.
10. Multiple Sclerosis
It is a disease of adults in which membranes of the brain and the spinal cord progressively deteriorate. Incapacity is the main symptom of the disease.
11. Cerebral Palsy
It is actually a type of neuro-muscular disorder that results from damage in the central nervous system, before or after the birth of the child. There are three major forms of this disease.
a) Spastic Cerebral Palsy:- It is the most common form of the disease. It can be detected only by a neurologist. Severe spasticity leaves the individual rigid and with tense and contracted muscles and difficulty in body, movement is seen.
b) Athetoid Cerebral Palsy: Results in involuntary movements of body parts, like grimacing, writing, etc.
c) Ataxic Cerebral Palsy: It is the rarest form of the disease and is characterized by disturbed balance, lack of coordination, underactive reflexes, constant involuntary movements of the eyeballs, muscle weakness, and tremor. About 40% of those suffering from the above diseases suffer from mental retardation and the same number of people suffer from speech impairment.
Treatment: People suffering from this disease can not be cured. Only proper management will help the child a little.
12. Spina Bifida
It is related to the development of an embryonic neural tube and the child is born with this disease. The defect occurs in the lower back area. But it can occur at any point along the spine.
Treatment: If the disorder is minor in nature, no treatment is required. The serious form of the disorder is myelomeningocele a like structure that consists of the spinal cord and spinal fluid. Surgery is the only method to get rid of the disease but the rate of success is very low.
13. Spinal Cord Injuries
It occurs when the spinal cord is traumatized fully or partially due to a car or motorbike accident gunshot wounds, falls, etc. people experiencing these injuries suffer from partial or total paralysis. If the spinal cord is completely damaged, complete paralysis will be seen. If the spinal cord is partially damaged, partial paralysis will OcCur, Important types of paralysis due to this disease are as follows.
- Monoplegia: In this disease, only one limb is affected. Paraplegia In this disease, the lower part of the body and both legs are affected.
- Hemiplegia: The disease affects one side of the body is affected.
- Triplegia: Three limbs usually two legs and one arm are affected.
- Quadriplegia: All extremities and the trunk are affected.
- Diplegia: Legs are more affected than arms.
- Double Hemiplegia: The disease affects both sides of the body are affected.
Treatment: No significant improvement is seen after medication.
Educational Adaptation of Loco Motor Disability of Crippled children
Crippled children have limited motor functioning due to their handicap which is associated with low interaction and hence low level of social and language development, emotional problems due to maltreatment by others, and low educational achievement due to poor attendance and low level of concentration. All these problems require modification in the total educational setup. Important adaptive measures are given below.
1. Modification in the curriculum: Crippled children do not lag behind the normals in cognitive abilities. So, no modification in the curriculum is needed. The only thing that is needed is that they should be given those experiences which require less motor functioning. If special facilities are provided to them, they can learn and everything.
2. Emotional and social Adjustment: These children are generally rejected by their peers and mates and thus they face adjustment problems in school. Adjustment training is given to them in order to enable them to adjust to society properly. Efforts should be made to make them self-dependent and self-reliant. It will develop self-confidence in them which is very essential for emotional adjustment.
3. Removing Architectural Obstacles: Architectural obstacles impede instruction by restricting motor functioning. Instruction can be facilitated by removing these obstacles. For example, if a crippled child is coming to the class in a wheelchair, the room will have to be architecturally designed and the furniture set in such a manner that the student can reach his desk without difficulty. Students should also be placed in the class in such a way that it is easy for them to move in the class. Adaptive design of floors and doors is especially important here.
4. Development of physical Efficiency: They are proved to many diseases due to lack of motor activities. Special activities are to be organized for them to adapt to their motor abilities. Yoga and other related activities are examples here.
5. Classroom Adaptation
- Seating arrangement according to the crisp line effect of children.
- Writing in a spiral-bound notebook or pad of paper rather than on a single loose sheet.
- Limiting response options to a single word or multiple-choice items that require minimal writing if there is any defect in their writing hands.
- Using a word processor, computers, typewriters, and calculators in order to facilitate writing and mathematical calculators.
- In order to facilitate reading, adaptive measures used are book holders, reading stands, automatic page-turners, books on tape recorders, etc.
6. Fostering Independence: They have to be made self-dependent anyhow. Following adaptive measures can be adapted for this purpose.
Prosthesis- It is an artificial replacement of a missing body part, e.g. an artificial leg or hard. This is supplied to them to make them self-reliant.
Orthosis- It is a device that enhances partial functioning of a body part, e.g. leg brace.
Adaptive Device- It is an ordinary item used for daily living, found in school, home, or office, e.g a plate with suction cups to hold it to the table and a rim around it to keep the food from being pushed off it.
7. Special methods of Instructions: The teacher motivates the students to talk about their limitations on one hand and helps them exhibit their abilities on the other. This will help the teacher to study his students and teach them according to their specific needs.
- He should come to the physical level of his students during the teaching-learning process.
- He has to modify the assignment also according to the specific needs of these students.
- The teacher should also be concerned with the physical problems of these students and show full sympathy with them. He should be considerate enough to accept their tasks even if they are not up to the mark.
8. Providing Medical Facilities: They are very much prone to accidents and falls. In such cases, immediate medical facilities should be made available for them in order to give them timely help. Similarly. the orthopedic problem itself needs a regular medical check-up and follow-up. Schools should provide this facility also.
In these away we can discuss Locomotor disability and their different types along with the major causes of the problem and their treatments.
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