Treadmill aids children's motor skills

By Erica Dolson, Sentinel Reporter, October 13, 2009

Last updated: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 8:23 AM EDT

Melodie Corcoran hits the treadmill four days a week for eight minutes at a time.

She listens to music as she works out.

She stands at 32 inches tall.

Luckily, the pediatric treadmill where the 20-month-old from Camp Hill walks is only 32 inches long, 18 inches wide and 7.5 inches high.

Melodie has Down syndrome, a genetic condition in which a person has an extra chromosome. The pediatric treadmill is a tool proven by research to stimulate the automatic walking response in children with conditions, such as Down syndrome, that traditionally cause motor delays.

The treadmill is housed at the Capital Area Children’s Center in Camp Hill, one of the facilities from which United Cerebral Palsy of Central Pennsylvania operates. It is currently available for use by all UCP families; within the next six months, families of children who receive Early Intervention services in Cumberland, Dauphin and Northern York counties will also be able to use the service.

“I’m so excited,” said Diane Isham, physical therapist with UCP. “I’ve wanted to do this for awhile.”

The benefits

Children with Down syndrome usually begin to walk about one year after their typically developing peers, Isham said. The repeated action of walking on the treadmill builds a child’s strength and improves both the pattern and quality of their walking, Isham explained.

Research also shows it helps children with Down syndrome walk up to 101 days earlier than those without treadmill training, she added.

Therapists may also use an adult treadmill, at a speed of under a half-mile per hour, to achieve the same result, Isham said. To her knowledge, this is the only pediatric treadmill in the area.

The $1,300 treadmill was purchased with funds from the Jerry and Donna Nailor Fund through The Foundation for Enhancing Communities and the Central Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Awareness Group.

“We find out that someone in the central Pennsylvania Down syndrome community has a need, and we wanted to find the money so that need could be met,” said Brian Guillaume, president of the board of the Central Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Awareness Group.

An ideal training schedule would be five days a week for eight minutes at a time, but because of the availability of the room at the center, families will have access to the treadmill only four days a week, Isham said.

Fun, too

Children can use the treadmill as soon as they can bear weight on their legs, Isham said, and the treadmill at UCP includes a suspension system to hold the child up.

Secured in the harness, Melodie looks safe, albeit a little silly, her mother, Wendy Corcoran said. Melodie has been training for about three weeks, and it’s obvious that her experience has been fun, and effective, her mother said.

“She oftentimes smiles,” Corcoran said. “I see her getting stronger. I see her legs, she moves them more because she knows what to do with them.”

Isham offers one training sessions for families, she said. Families who are interested must go through their physical therapist.

The treadmill and suspension system have also been used to help children with cerebral palsy, an option UCP would like to investigate in the future, Isham said.

“This is one technique in a whole bag of techniques a therapist has,” she said.

“If I can build up (Melodie’s) strength, it builds her confidence. It builds my confidence as a parent,” Wendy Corcoran said. “You know you’re doing something to help her in the future.”