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Pow! Bam! Ugh! Smack!
It's Saturday morning in the cafeteria of United Cerebral Palsy of Greater St. Louis. A group of youngsters punch, block and dodge their "attackers," most of them Washington University student volunteers, in an intermediate martial arts class for youths with cerebral palsy.
The class participants are learning kajukenbo, a combination of karate, judo, jujutsu kenpo and Chinese boxing. They laugh and joke while they practice. Learning how to defend themselves and meeting new people are two of the main reasons they eagerly get up early to attend this class.
"This is my most favorite thing in the world," said Becky, 18. "I have a lot of fun and like that it's helping my balance and hand-and-eye coordination."
One reason for their enthusiasm is undoubtedly class co-founder Jan Brunstrom, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the School of Medicine. Brunstrom has cerebral palsy herself, and the young people quickly learn that she understands the obstacles they have to overcome.
Frank Marten said his 17-year-old daughter initially was afraid to try out what she was learning. Now, though, Stephanie's confidence is up to the point that she responds quickly. "And she loves practicing, especially on me," he joked.
"I feel now that I can protect myself," Stephanie said.
Their condition would seem to give these youngsters an added reason to feel vulnerable in society. Cerebral palsy is a birth defect that affects body movement and muscle coordination, leading to muscle tightness or spasms, involuntary movements and difficulty walking. Additionally, people with this disorder can have sight and hearing impairments and abnormal sensations or perception.
Three students in the martial arts class use canes, and a fourth requires a walker or the equivalent support to stand. But all of them appear to benefit from the class, which is sponsored by the School of Medicine, St. Louis Children's Hospital and BJC Health System.
"What we've learned is that their balance and motor control improve, along with their self-confidence, as they learn to successfully master new motor skills," said Brunstrom, director of the Pediatric Neurology Cerebral Palsy Center. Brunstrom co-founded the class with instructor Mike Utechtt and volunteers her time to help teach it. "They all are doing better, and I'm proud of all of them," she said of her students.
Utechtt, who has a third-degree black belt in kajukenbo, said he was a little skeptical at first about teaching martial arts to young people with cerebral palsy. "But now I think it's great," he said. "And when they concentrate on punching or blocking, they step away from their disability and focus on what they can do."
Brunstrom, a pediatric neurologist and developmental neurobiologist, has had a major impact on Utechtt's approach to the students. She began taking martial arts from him in the summer of 1997 because she wanted to learn to protect herself.
"When a child is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, there often are limits placed on what that child can achieve," Brunstrom said, stressing that people often incorrectly link motor disorders and intellect. "These limits are largely based on people's poor awareness of exactly what these kids are capable of and a poor understanding of the disorder."
When she first started taking martial arts, she couldn't stand, throw a punch, strike a target and keep her balance at the same time. She had to hang on to Utechtt or sit down to master tasks. She also couldn't stay on her feet for the one-hour session.
Now Brunstrom easily stays on her feet and punches at targets for a full hour. Her goals: she intends to learn how to kick -- and to earn a black belt in kajukenbo.
University students who volunteer in the class are freshmen Tom Dittman, Cassandra Goodwin, Brianne Kay, Chris Staples, Keene Tso and Rebecca Weisser, junior John McCrow and senior Margaret Lin. Brunstrom's brothers, Eric, a law student at the University, and Mike, a high school student, also volunteer, along with physical therapist Lori Meinert and Dawn Robinson, a student at Maryville University.
