Can’t Do It? Let’s Try Trunk Rotation | Athetoid Cerebral Palsy | Pediatric PT #5

I’m continuing this series with my co-instructor, Ne’Quan 👨🏾‍🦱💙. Ne’Quan has spastic athetoid cerebral palsy, and I was his physical therapist from age 9 through age 26. When we began filming this playlist, he was 27 — and at this point, we are simply dear friends. Although Ne’Quan is an adult, the motor challenges he experiences are the same challenges I address across the lifespan, including with young children who have similar movement patterns. The strategies used in this series apply across ages; what changes is how the task is presented. With younger clients 👧🏽👦🏼, these skills are often built through play. With Ne’Quan, we work directly using verbal cues, repetition, task progression, and long-established trust. 🧠 What This Video Focuses On This video focuses on a foundational but often difficult skill for individuals with athetoid movement patterns: isolated trunk rotation in sitting. Ne’Quan is able to move most easily in straight planes. Movements that require rotation or lateral flexion are significantly more challenging and often avoided or compensated for. In this session, we practice intentional upper-trunk rotation while Ne’Quan sits upright on a couch, which helps prevent him from rotating his entire body as a unit. Key elements of this setup include: • Maintaining upright sitting • Preventing collapse into lateral flexion • Encouraging true trunk rotation rather than whole-body turning • Using visual feedback and tactile cueing • Facilitating arm movement to support rotational control Ne’Quan typically requires physical assistance and repeated cues to achieve this movement, especially when rotating in one direction. 🧠 Why Rotation Matters Trunk rotation is essential for many functional activities, including reaching across midline, transitions in sitting, preparing for standing and walking, dressing and self-care tasks, and balance recovery. For individuals with athetoid cerebral palsy, rotation is often avoided because it feels unstable and unpredictable. This video demonstrates how to practice rotation safely and intentionally without allowing compensatory strategies to take over. 📌 About Ne’Quan • Walks in daily life with someone nearby for safety 🚶🏾‍♂️ • Does not speak; communicates using gestures, signs, an alphabet board, and a switch-accessed communication device 💬📱 • Strong receptive language skills • Limited hand control affecting fine-motor and self-help tasks 🤲🏽 • Functionally most similar to GMFCS Level III ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Introduction & Meet Ne’Quan 00:23 Ne’Quan Introduces Himself 00:38 Athetoid CP & Difficulty With Rotation 01:29 Why We Practice Trunk Rotation 01:45 Upright Sitting & Setup 02:08 Avoiding Lateral Flexion 02:21 Facilitated Trunk Rotation 02:38 Directional Differences 03:05 Repetition & Cueing 03:32 Functional Relevance 03:40 Closing 🎥 Watch All of Ne’Quan’s Videos (Playlist) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAkJbMrHyKjNPEoC-A5MaSjxfr_omXGDS 🌐 More Resources Website: https://www.pediatricPTexercises.com Facebook: Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises Email: amysturkey@gmail.com 💬 Captions / Accessibility I’ve reviewed and corrected the captions for clarity. To turn on captions: click CC. To change caption language: Settings → Subtitles/CC → choose a language or Auto-translate 🌍 📚 Books by Amy Sturkey (Amazon) Children’s Books P is for Poop and Pee Accidents — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLSRJ483 A is for Anxiety — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LXQ3W6V A is for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QH9H5HR C is for Cerebral Palsy — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088TSJCYP D is for Down Syndrome — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079P8HH49 A is for Autism — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071F4FFTB Professional Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercise Books Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises for the Hips — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998156736 Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises for the Knees — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998156760 Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises for the Ankles — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TX2ZCFD