Michael Fehlings

Challenge For most children with cerebral palsy (CP), their condition began before birth, likely due to a condition resulting in the delayed growth of the fetus. But ground-breaking findings from the CP research team, led by neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Fehlings, have demonstrated that neural stem cell therapy could be an option for treating CP. Project [...]

Challenge One of the primary treatments for cerebral palsy (CP) is constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT). CIMT immobilizes the stronger limb, forcing the patient to use – and hopefully improve function - in the weaker one. Our researcher team (led by Dr. Derek van der Kooy, University of Toronto) investigated why CIMT works. They believed it [...]

Challenge While Canadian scientists are leaders in Cerebral Palsy research, effective communication and geography are barriers to creating connections that could lead to meaningful scientific discoveries. Additionally, knowledge of the root causes of CP is at an early stage. The lack of uptake of new evidence-based medical treatments highlights the need for better knowledge dissemination [...]