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said that the traditional methods used in Russia to treat children with cerebral palsy, such as massages, are becoming outdated.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.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was