Any advice on bikes for my toddler who has cerebral palsy

[jake0711]

I have a little boy who is 6 next month and he has cerebral palsy spastic diplegia.He is able to walk. He has a bike that he is unable to ride yet which has stablizers. Last night he wanted to go on it so i put him on it and he tried to ride it . I was absolutely delighted but he did nt have enough strength in his legs to push the pedals. I was just wondering if anyone knows if their is any special bikes available for children with cerebral palsy. Any help would be much appreciated xxxxx

Yes! There are lots of fabulous trikes for children with all types of SN. My Ds is 5 with spastic diplegia CP and we have just ordered a tomcat trike. See website here. IME they are the best but there are lots of others, google SN trikes. All of them are geared so that children who find it hard to push the pedals due to strength, or lack of it, can move the bike independently. We are getting a tag along trike that can be attached to my bike. They are very expensive, our was nearly £2K, but we got full funding for it from Cerebra here who like funding trikes!

Ps - if he's nearly 6 is he still a toddler? My 5 year old would be very offended if I called him that!

Hiya, thanks for your reply and also your links to the websites. You know you said your child has spastic diplegia well i was just wondering can your child walk. I m only asking this because my sonis able to walk and i d never thought about him not being able to ride a bike up until now. I ll explain what i mean, . When he was on his bike last week and he tried to push the pedals and he could nt and i thought well maybe the wheels were stuck and then i thought i wonder if there are any specialist bikes available hence my first post. I then spoke to a friend about the special bikes and she said of course he ll be able to ride a normal bike. What you ve put about children who can t push the pedals due to strength or lack of it has made me realize that maybe it was nt that the wheels were stuck it was that he could nt push them with is feet . Sorry if this does nt make sense i m just finding it hard to get across what i mean. You have made me realize that maybe he won t be able to ride a normal (sorry i hate that word) bike and i am now gonna speak to his physio about it so thank you and again hope this makes some sense. Take care, xxx

HI there, just seen your post, My son has very week leg muscles and cannot push the pedals on a bike but I brought him a balance bike, it is the same as a normal bike but with out the pedals.They put their feet on the floor and just run , sounds wierd but my little one is besotted with his it is the best thing I have ever brought he wizzes around on it and all the nursery staff are amazed at how fast he can go he has got so fast that he lifts his feet up off the floor and just goes. The head of his nursery is so impressed that she has gone out and brought 3 of them for the nursery. The only problem is that most of them are designed for small children, for his next bike I am going to buy him a normal one (with an aluminium frame as it is lighter) and have the pedals and chain etc removed thus turning it into a balance bike, these could them be put back on at a later stahe if he gains any strength or if I want to sell it on. Hope this helps

Hi Jake, Yes my son can walk, not 'normally' but he walks all around the school and house and for short distances, for longer ones he uses a wheelchair. His balance is not that good though and he cannot stand still yet, (although he is getting closer).

For this reason he cannot use a 2 wheeled bike. We are hopefully having a major op in the next year that should help considerably and once he has outgrown his trike I intend to do what oddjob suggested and turn a normal bike into a balance bike. My youngest son has a balance bike and loves it, I think it is the way to work on the balance. DS 1 can turn the pedals though of any bike he is put on, even his cousins normal one, he cannot keep his feet in the right position to get the down force through them though.

Ask your physio though, ours has been very helpful in this area.

ds2 has mild cp (spastic dip) & asd. He has the balance to ride a two wheeler but didn't have the strength until very recently to pedal.
He is 8 now & can pedal on smooth flat ground, still can't do slopes or even slight inclines, but he is getting better.
I end up with a bad back as I give him a shove to get him going, he pedals for a bit, slows & comes to a grinding halt.

Hopefully he will get there eventually, but if its a strength thing rather than balance have you looked at the electric/powere assisted bikes?
V expensive & I have only seen adult versions but they are amazing.

have you seen the information about kidz up north at the reebok stadium,bolton?
i would reccomend that you take your son and see all the equipment and trikes that will be on display in the hall (or hot off the press and in the salesmans catalogue)

Hi, I haven't read all the other posts so I might be repeating what someone has already said.
My 11 year old son has cerebral diplegia and we bought a basic trike from ebay. When he out grew it we applied to Whizz Kids. They have special days around the country where you can go and try all sorts of different trikes. Ours was in a sports hall so nice and safe and warm. Jamie picked out the bike he wanted and suited him best and about 3 months later it was delivered to the door courtesy of Whizz Kids. He totally loves it and plays with his able bodied friends on it.
Whizz Kids are the best organisation and do so much more than just providing equipment.

We bought an Amtryke for Bee last summer - she could not manage a 2-wheeler with stabilizers at all, she could not get the pedals to make the complete circle, but on her Amtryke, she is off like a rocket.

There is no funding here for something like this, so it took a lot of saving... but it was very much worth it, and the tryke will grow with her for years.

He's 6 Years old and still a toddler to you? Or did you mean 6 months? Anyhow my son ,now 14, has quite mild cerebral palsy where it just causes him to walk with his knees bent but when he was a child I never let it stop him doing anything. He had a bike, skate board, scooter and even roller skates all adapted for someone with cerebral palsy. Of course these things are not cheap as al together they cost me about 13,500 but I reckon it's a small price for a child's happiness. Only problem is I have cerebral palsy and I have passes it on to two of my children. Don't give up one day he will ride a bike
Good luck XX