2006 Media Releases
Thursday, 27 April 2006
New training DVD helps young people with a disability
Physiotherapists at La Trobe University have produced a DVD to help young people with cerebral palsy. The DVD assists them, their families, health professionals and fitness specialists to use strength training with weights to overcome muscle weakness.
The new exercise program follows four years of research by a team which includes the Head of La Trobe’s School of Physiotherapy, Professor Karen Dodd, and senior lecturer, Dr Nicholas Taylor.
The La Trobe researchers worked with Professor Kerr Graham, Director of the Hugh Williamson Gait Laboratory at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, to demonstrate for the first time the beneficial effects of strength training. Previously, physiotherapists had believed such treatment had no benefits.
The team published 15 research papers on various aspects of the research in peer-reviewed journals around the world. Professor Dodd says the new treatment has significantly changed thinking about the management of cerebral palsy.
A world authority on exercise treatment of people with injuries or sickness resulting from brain damage, Professor Dodd says the DVD provides ‘instructions about simple, effective workouts and valuable information which shows how strength training fits with current management of cerebral palsy’.
It was produced by the University and made by La Trobe’s multimedia production unit, COMET, with support from the Australian Barbell Company and the Clinical Centre for Research Excellence in Gait Rehabilitation.
The DVD was a finalist in the Victorian State Department of Sport and Recreation’s ‘Go for Your Life’ awards. It has also been nominated for the best audiovisual product at the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine 6th Annual Meeting to be held in Boston, USA, in September.
The DVD can be obtained from denise@australianbarbell.com.au
For further information:
Professor Karen Dodd, tel.: +61 3 9479 5723 or La Trobe University Media and Communications, tel.: +61 3 7479 2316.