Botox Helps Children With Cerebral Palsy Get Back On Their Feet

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) A treatment commonly used to knock out wrinkles is helping children cope with cerebral palsy, even helping some walk when the disorder attacks their legs.

When you combine botox and computer animation in the same sentence, you might think of a big Hollywood production. You might not guess that the combination of these two are getting children who might never walk back on their feet.

Hearing a neurologist say your child may not be able to walk is frightening. The Johnsons twins Athena and E.J. were just 9 months old when both were diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a condition not uncommon in premature babies.

Born 10 weeks early, Athena had physical challenges showing up in her legs.

Dr. John Davids is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who treats children with cerebral palsy. He says the earliest treatments include physical therapy, braces and casting the legs.

Then at age 5, doctors turn to a treatment more commonly associated with supermodels instead of cerebral palsy patientsbotox.

It was a little bit weird, you think of Botox as being more cosmetic type of a thing, said Athenas father, George Johnson.

Her parents say the idea of botox to help her walk didnt quite make sense, since it paralyzes the muscles normally, but would relax the muscles on her.

Doctors have used botox injections to help managed muscles in kids with CP since about 1991, because it helps doctors shut off certain activity.

In children with CP, there is an imbalance between muscle groups and some of the muscle groups are overactive and those are the groups we target with the Botox to tone down or turn down the activity level, Davids said.

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Botox Helps Children With Cerebral Palsy Get Back On Their Feet