MAES Therapy

Research Statement

Research on therapy approaches for children with cerebral palsy is notoriously difficult due to the variability of subjects/patients, difficulties with study design and ethical study adherence. Many systematic reviews lament the lack of methodically sound research which results in treatment approaches being inconclusive and therefore, regrettably, recommendations for more and better research is always the result.

Movement Analysis and Education Strategies (M.A.E.S.) Therapy is a relatively new concept and therefore, research on the actual approach has not been published yet, but the principles and theory behind the M.A.E.S. Therapy have been widely researched.

M.A.E.S. Therapy is an approach which guides the therapist in the assessment and treatment of children with cerebral palsy and other similar neurological conditions.

The approach holds at its core, the cause of cerebral palsy, understanding the functioning of the brain and how it is the brain that results in the symptoms observed.

M.A.E.S. is based on individualised and comprehensive assessment of a child through movement analysis and clinical reasoning. This analysis is then applied to an individualised treatment approach to each child.

M.A.E.S. analysis is based on the principle that the quality of movement observed is as a result of neurological pathways and strategies, which is the same principle as the General Movement Assessments which has been researched extensively.

In analysing the quality of movement, M.A.E.S. Therapy encourages therapists to determine the neurological strategies behind the movement quality and the psychology of movement. This principle is reflected in motor learning research and research into disorders such as Tourette’s syndrome.

Treatment techniques are based on using the body to access the brain and utilising the principles of neuroplasticity and creating variability of movement.

We do not have direct research yet, but we have testimonials from therapists  and from parents of children who have been treated using this approach.

MAES Therapy welcomes any research on this concept. It is such a new approach, that we need to train therapists in this concept and enable them to become proficient, in order to do research.  We cannot perform research until we have M.A.E.S. trained therapists.

MAES Therapy is a pioneering evidence-based approach, underpinned by practice evidence, patient evidence and contextual evidence from 35 years’ expert clinical and teaching experience world-wide and focusing on excellent treatment skills.

REFERENCES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

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