Parents and doctors usually observe which parts of a child’s body are mobile and which are not, and the part of the body that is less mobile is considered to be less developed. However, in many cases, if we look deeper and take a closer look, we will find that the reality is completely different. It’s not all that simple, white or black.
For example, during an examination of a child we found that both of his hip joints were weak, but that at the same time, one leg moved more easily in the joint than the other, and when moving the more flexible leg, one could feel more instability of the joint, while the hip joint of the other leg (which showed greater spasticity during movement), proved to be more stable.
It was difficult for me to explain to the parents that the more functional, more flexible leg, showed more structural weaknesses. The X-ray, which the parents brought the day after the examination, proved my assumption – that with the spastic leg, the form of the joint was better due to contraction of the surrounding muscles and the formation of muscle tension, that is, the compressive force that affected the better connection of the joint surfaces and the stability of the joint itself, while in the case of the more flexible leg that the child used more, the joint was damaged, i.e., the already existing weaknesses of the structures were even more weakened.
Until we manage to achieve the necessary internal tension force that binds everything together and evenly increases the resistance during movements that contributes to the stability of the joints, we will have problems. In this case, we had problems in the form of spasticity that only seemingly made the joint more stable and preserved it, and with the damage to the joint structures in the more functional leg?
So, finally, the question is: what is spasticity in a child? Maybe muscle coactivation (the joint contraction of a particular group of muscles and their anatagonists which surround a joint to ensure joint stability)?
