Scapular Mobilizations
While working with a kid diagnosed as having cerebral palsy with hemiplegia we noticed that the child would not move his right upper extremity (RUE) into flexion. The child will substitute abduction for flexion when moving his RUE to reach for objects. The restricted shoulder flexion greatly impacts the child’s ability to reach for objects and use his arm/shoulder functionally. To help the child gain flexion in the RUE, we will be working on scapular mobilizations. First, we will work on stretching the scapula by moving it into the positions depicted below and holding it there for at least 5 seconds. Then we will work on moving the arm into flexion while guiding the scapula. When doing scapular mobilizations it is important to learn how to do them appropriately so no harm is done, please refer to an article by Jan Davis titled Reducing Hemiplegic Shoulder Pain through Practical Handling Skills.
Video demonstrating how the scapula moves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRIz6oOA0Vs
Videos depicting scapular mobilization
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