4 Oct 2023

Our Changing World – Cerebral palsy and muscle development

From Afternoons, 3:35 pm on 4 October 2023

Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of physical disability for children in Aotearoa. An impairment in the developing brain either during pregnancy or shortly after birth leads to problems with movement and posture. 

A man in a shirt sits next to a model of the human body with muscles visible. He is touching the bicep of the model.

Dr Geoffrey Handsfield is part of the musculoskeletal modelling group at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. Photo: Malila Christoffersen

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Dr Geoffrey Handsfield of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute musculoskeletal modelling group wants to understand what is happening in the muscles of children with cerebral palsy across time. To do this he is working with Mātai Medical Institute in Tairāwhiti on a longitudinal MRI study of children both with and without cerebral palsy.  

He hopes to figure out how muscle development is impeded in those with cerebral palsy and perhaps find some clues for how to help.  

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