Against all odds, 6-year-old girl gains full body movement after a month long physiotherapy at Columbia Asia Hospital Hebbal

In an hour where covid-19 is dominating all over the world, the threat of being exposed to other serious diseases hasn’t gone. Cases of serious road accidents, mental health instability, kids getting into major accidents while at home and the list of different incidents goes on! But something that can be quite worrisome is when a healthy kid, falls ill all of a sudden during the time of the lockdown.

Ria (name changed) a 6-year-old kid, was a very active, healthy and playful child. The child fell ill when the lockdown started with general viral infection symptoms. But the parents after few weeks realized that their daughter must be suffering from some other disease which the doctors from their pervious hospital couldn’t diagnosis.

After a long hustle the parents got to know that their daughter wasn’t suffering from common viral flu, but what she had was meningoencephalitis, brain fever. A condition which causes inflammation in the protective membranes of the brain. The inflammation can cause seizures, fever, fatigue and as the spread of the infection increases the person loses their body movement gradually. Ria was suffering with the same symptoms and gradually lost her whole body movement too.

Even though when Ria recovered from brain fever, her lost body movement was not re-gained. It was then, Ria’s parents were referred and introduced to the physiotherapy team of Columbia Asia Hospital Hebbal. The doctors after checking Ria told her parents that regular physiotherapy might bring in changes in the body movement of child.

Ms. Shivani, Physiotherapy Executive, Columbia Asia Hospital Hebbal, says, “When Ria was brought to our hospital, she had only eye ball movement, she wasn’t able to sit nor move around. Basically, brain fever effects the central nervous system and the spine. Due to which a person can lose motor functions. But with regular physiotherapy at the hospital and home, and because of her tender age she had a pretty fast recovery in a span of one month. We are so glad to see the child back in full swing.”

The therapy sessions which consisted of neurophysiological approach, mainly focuses on activating the sensory receptors that are responsible for motor movements, i.e, activating the physical functioning of the whole body. Other than this positioning, stretching and balancing exercises were a part of the therapy.

Ria’s parents who were overwhelmed with the whole situation after physiotherapy sessions, said, “The physiotherapists at Columbia Asia Hospital Hebbal were very supportive throughout their treatment. My daughter lost her body movement all of a sudden, to look at her was a painful for us as she is an active child. We had completely lost hope that our child would be back to normal. But thanks to the therapy sessions, Ria regained her whole-body consciousness and activity. I’m very grateful to the whole team of physiotherapy for giving my child another healthy life.”

It is always very important to have hope, it is with the same hope amid the lockdown and other hurdles Ria’s family could bring normalcy into Ria’s life. The child has now completely recovered and is back to her normal playful life.