Clad in a green jumpsuit and helmet, Maryan Dolik walks with hesitation as he enters the glass compartment of an indoor skydiving simulator.
Within seconds he is swept up by a powerful gust of air, forgetting the physical limitations caused by his cerebral palsy.
Although the 13-year-old finds it difficult to walk down a flight of stairs, inside the vertical wind tunnel he has learned to fly and has already reaped the benefits of the unusual therapy.
Photo: AFP
“I’ve started walking better, become stronger and have better endurance,” the slim blond boy said with a smile.
“I want to achieve a lot, to start doing everything on my own without anyone’s help,” Dolik said, adding that he wants to become an indoor skydiving instructor.
Dolik was selected to participate in Russia’s “Fly with Me” project that helps children with cerebral palsy improve their physical capabilities.
Under the guidance of his coach, Dolik trains once a week at a center in Saint Petersburg.
His mother, Irina Dolik, said that after three months of lessons his “range of movement is increasing.”
“He feels more coordinated,” she said.
While the use of flying simulators for therapy is already widespread in Europe and the US, in Russia — a nation that lags behind others in its support for disabled people — the practice is still gaining momentum.
Physician Valida Isanova said that the traditional methods used in Russia to treat children with cerebral palsy, such as massages, are becoming outdated.
She said that the simulator flights help work joints and muscles that are not used in everyday life, though she added that the method still needs to be studied to give the project “scientific basis.”
About 85,000 children in Russia suffer from cerebral palsy and few families can afford a session in the simulator that can cost nearly 30,000 rubles (US$408) per hour.
So far 120 children between the age of five and 14 have been selected to join the “Fly with Me” state-funded initiative that is available in a handful of Russian cities.
Yekaterina Inozemtseva, who runs the project, is herself the mother of a girl with cerebral palsy.
In December last year, she appealed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin for state support for the project.
She hopes that the program, which includes a weekly six-minute flying session and other physical exercises, can become accessible to more people.
“We want this form of physical rehabilitation to be included in programs at a federal level so that it is available for free to every child with cerebral palsy in every region,” Inozemtseva said.
Her team has a rehabilitation therapist and an orthopedist, who closely monitor the health of every child, and each session is carried out under the strict control of an instructor.
Dolik and seven other children with cerebral palsy last month took part in an indoor parachuting championship in Moscow.
Russian Federation of Parachuting vice president Denis Sviridov said it was the first time disabled children had joined the competition.
“The children get the chance to develop as athletes and enter the world of parachute sport,” said Maryan Dolik’s coach, Ruslan Savitsky. “The sky is open for them.”
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