Breathe Magic Intensive Therapy Programme

Effectiveness of the programme on hand function and independence

Research into the programme found that Breathe Magic increased usage of the young peoples affected hands by 61%. This was sustained after a follow-up 3 months, regardless of age, severity of movement restriction, or nationality, (Green & Farquharson, 2013) a further study showed that 92% of children had improvements in bimanual ability and 75% of the young people maintained their improvement after a follow-up 6 weeks later (Myers, Green, Schertz, Shiran, Geva, et al. 2015).

Our research, and research from other magic camps, shows that participants had clinically significant improvements in bimanual (two-handed) motor skills and improved independence and participation in daily activities. These skills were well maintained at the 6 month follow-up assessments.

Following Breathe Magic young people and their parents report improved movement skills and a greater ability to perform physical daily tasks at 6 months follow up and reductions in hours of care and support from parents following the young person’s participation in the programme due to their newfound independence (Fancourt, 2020).

Effectiveness of the programme on neuroplasticity of the brain in young people

Following participation in intensive Magic HABIT neuroimaging showed that there was a 26.14% increase in level of activation in the affected hemisphere from before to after the intervention (shown in beta values), and a 34.75% improvement at follow- up (Weinstein et al, 2015).

Further studies showed increased white matter integrity was detected in the corpus callosum and corticospinal tract after the 60 hours of therapy in about half of the participants. This was associated with better hand function and the improvement was maintained in bimanual independence and unimanual hand function at follow-up.

Young people with greater overall brain damage (higher radiological score and decreased cortical activation in the affected hemisphere in fMRI) had greater improvement in bimanual function post-treatment. Diffusion tensor imaging in the PLIC (posterior limb of the internal capsule) and CST (corticospinal tract) indicated more white matter damage in some participants was associated with greater improvement in bilateral function following intervention (Schertz et al, 2016). Children with ipsilateral, bilateral, and contralateral cortical spinal tract connectivity, improved equally in HABIT interventions (Friel, 2021).

Breathe Magic Intensive Therapy Programme – Published Research 

Green, D., Schertz, M., Gordon, A.M., Moore, A., Schejter Margalit, T., Farquharson, Y., Ben Bashat, D., Weinstein, M., Lin, J.-P. and Fattal-Valevski, A. (2013), A multi-site study of functional outcomes following a themed approach to hand–arm bimanual intensive therapy for children with hemiplegia. Dev Med Child Neurol, 55: 527-533. Read it here.

Novak, I. (2013), A magical moment in research translation: strategies for providing high intensity bimanual therapy. Dev Med Child Neurol, 55: 491-491.  Read it here.

Breathe Magic for Mental Health – Published Research 

Fancourt, D., Wee, J. & Lorencatto, F. Identifying mechanisms of change in a magic-themed hand-arm bimanual intensive therapy programme for children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy: a qualitative study using behaviour change theory. BMC Pediatr20, 363 (2020). Read it here.