Page 22 - Mobility Management, January 2018

Pediatric Series
Tech Perspectives for SMA
How Seating & Mobility Can Support the Varying Needs of Kids with Spinal Muscular Atrophy
n its most severe form, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
presents at birth or soon after, progresses rapidly and is fatal by or before the child reaches toddlerhood. Children with less severe types of SMA can live to adulthood.
But even within an SMA “type,” there are variations in function, progression and life expectancies — and therefore, variations in the types of seating and wheeled mobility needed. Nusinersen, a promising new drug therapy shown to slow SMA progression, could introduce additional variables as seating and mobility teams seek out the best equipment for kids today and going forward.
22 JANUARY 2018 | MOBILITY MANAGEMENT
Understanding Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Cure SMA (curesma.org), an advocacy group that supports families living with SMA and funds and directs research for treatments, noted that SMA is the number one genetic cause
of death in infants around the world. Because SMA affects the muscles needed for breathing, eating, talking and moving, complex rehab technology (CRT) professionals can play a major role in supporting children with SMA and their families.
Missy Ball, MT, PT, ATP, explained that SMA “is an autosomal recessive disease (one copy from each parent) caused by a defect in the SMN 1 gene, which is necessary for production of SMN
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