Preventing Sensory and Motor Dysfunctions in Children Receiving Neurotoxic Chemotherapy

"For the max. duration of the first in-hospital phase (3weeks), all children will receive supervised training. When children go home they will be supplied with a manual, specific exercises and the necessary training devices. Regular supervision will allow to ensure that the training is performed at maximum benefit. Each session will last for about 20 to 30 minutes in total, including a child-specific warm-up and cool-down. The children will be asked to maintain balance in a previously acquired short-foot-position, knees slightly flexed (30°), without shoes. Training will consist of 5 playful balance exercises chosen from a standardized pool of exercises according to the child's age, with increasing difficulty in order to allow for individual, optimal progression. Each of the 5 exercises will contain of 5 repetitions for 10sec. allowing for a 20sec. rest in between each set and a 1min rest between each exercise in order to avoid neural fatigue."