ISSN: 2578-5095
Authors: Harada S*, Ueda A, Morizane M, Sato S and Nakano K
People with cerebral palsy often have sleep disorders, such as difficulty falling asleep or waking up often during the night, due to their physical disabilities. The main method of treatment for this is medication. While the efficacy of pharmacotherapy has been acknowledged, it is also necessary to consider issues that have been raised in recent years concerning the side effects of sleeping pills as well as the importance of non-pharmacological approaches. This study discusses a non-pharmacological technique called Dohsa Hou or Movement Therapy in English. Dohsa Hou has for many years helped people with cerebral palsy to foster movement control and improve physical disability. There have also been reports of sleep improvement in people with cerebral palsy in recent years. In the present study, several people with cerebral palsy were chosen and interviewed about their experiences of improving their physical disabilities and sleep disorders through Dohsa Hou. The participants had to recall their experiences of practicing the therapy. The collected data were analysed using the Trajectory Equifinality Model. The results of the analysis suggested the improvement of chronic tension in the ankle, hip joint, and upper body regions as important physical experiences that lead to improved sleep in people with cerebral palsy. In addition to acquiring control to relax the body, it also showed that the acquisition of an appropriate gravitropic posture played an important role in improving the above-mentioned areas of chronic tension.
Keywords: Cerebral Palsy; Sleep Disorder; Movement Therapy; Dohsa Hou
