The ResearchWorks Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

ResearchWorks is heading to AACPDM 2026 in Philadelphia this year!

We can't wait to see you there - it's a special 80th Annual Meeting for the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM).

Join with us as we speak with Dr Kristie Bjornson - live from EACD 2026 in Galway Ireland, the final episode that we recorded on our European tour! A preview of what to expect from this year's annual congress and a look at the host city, Philadelphia!

Register here:
https://www.aacpdm.org/events/2026/registration

It's the special summary episode of our EACD 2026 conference series live from Galway Ireland! The conference was centred around the F-words and there was a call to action on the clinical application of the F-words.

Enjoy the final episode of our European Academy of Childhood-onset Disability Annual Congress series - the ResearchWorks team are on a mini-break, which we hope you'll use to catch up the entire series of episodes from Galway.

We'll be back with full length episodes in a few weeks time!

Thank you to everyone who came by the booth to say hello, to all of our guests on the show, to Theresa for the generous shout-out in the closing ceremony and to those who keep telling Ed he needs his own podcast, or to record his own audiobook!

He's too busy editing the pod to do that but he is very honoured whenever he gets asked for a selfie.... that happens more than you might think! :)

Optimising the neuroplasticity window: from evidence to early CP intervention

We're in Maulbronn Germany - at the pre-conference sessions!

We catch up with Dr Sebastian Schroeder - a look behind the scenes at EACD / IAACD 2025. Dr Schroeder is the Chair of the Scientific Committee for the conference and one of the key personnel behind the combined congress this year. Hearing his heart for the conference was a beautiful insight into the interdisciplinary and collaborative philosophies that Dr Schroeder and his team brought to the fore.

Be sure to visit the m:con Mannheim YouTube channel for the special video-casts we created for the Pre-Conference - all set in the beautiful location of Maulbronn Monastery - a UNESCO world heritage site!

The video-casts will be available on the mconmannheim YouTube channel over the course of the conference and mirrored to the ResearchWorks YouTube channel after the conference too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH1TtdUvDCY

We're in Maulbronn Germany - at the pre-conference sessions!

We catch up with Professor Novak - State of the Evidence, traffic lights. A brilliant conversation about her seminal work and the future of stem cells and early intervention.

"...i did it myself..." "...whose brain is doing the work?..." 

Be sure to visit the m:con Mannheim YouTube channel for the special video-casts we created for the Pre-Conference - all set in the beautiful location of Maulbronn Monastery - a UNESCO world heritage site!


The video-casts will be available on the mconmannheim YouTube channel over the course of the conference and mirrored to the ResearchWorks YouTube channel after the conference too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql9n_jw2u88

We're in Maulbronn Germany - at the pre-conference sessions!

We catch up with Dr Greaves - all about upper limb therapy, unilateral cerebral palsy, bimanual therapy and all things hands-off!

Be sure to visit the m:con Mannheim YouTube channel for the special video-casts we created for the Pre-Conference - all set in the beautiful location of Maulbronn Monastery - a UNESCO world heritage site!

The video-casts will be available on the mconmannheim YouTube channel over the course of the conference and mirrored to the ResearchWorks YouTube channel after the conference too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKt_gSrWhGI

We're in Maulbronn Germany - at the pre-conference sessions!

We catch up with Professor Ortibus - a conversation centred around CVI (cerebral visual impairment)!

Be sure to visit the m:con Mannheim YouTube channel for the special video-casts we created for the Pre-Conference - all set in the beautiful location of Maulbronn Monastery - a UNESCO world heritage site!

The video-casts will be available on the mconmannheim YouTube channel over the course of the conference and mirrored to the ResearchWorks YouTube channel after the conference too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvftmDsnx5s

We're in Maulbronn Germany - at the pre-conference sessions!

We catch up with Professor Bleyenheuft - the Habit-ile story, it's origins and what the future holds!

Be sure to visit the m:con Mannheim YouTube channel for the special video-casts we created for the Pre-Conference - all set in the beautiful location of Maulbronn Monastery - a UNESCO world heritage site!

The video-casts will be available on the mconmannheim YouTube channel over the course of the conference and mirrored to the ResearchWorks YouTube channel after the conference too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mLUsArpXDA

We're in Maulbronn Germany - at the pre-conference sessions!

We catch up with Professor Blank - EACD / IAACD 2025 President and a man giving voice to the international community! Professor Blank has visited a number of countries world-wide onsite in order to hear the international voices on childhood-onset disabilities. 

Be sure to visit the m:con Mannheim YouTube channel for the special video-casts we created for the Pre-Conference - all set in the beautiful location of Maulbronn Monastery - a UNESCO world heritage site!

The video-casts will be available on the mconmannheim YouTube channel over the course of the conference and mirrored to the ResearchWorks YouTube channel after the conference too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8cvgjXr44E

Aim: To define the longitudinal trajectory of gastrocnemius muscle growth in 6- to 36-month-old children with and without spastic cerebral palsy (SCP) and to compare trajectories by levels of gross motor function (Gross Motor Function Classification System, GMFCS) and presumed brain-lesion timing.

Method: Twenty typically developing children and 24 children with SCP (GMFCS levels I-II/III-IV = 15/9), were included (28/16 females/males; mean age at first scan 15.4 months [standard deviation 4.93, range 6.24-23.8]). Three-dimensional freehand ultrasound was used to repeatedly assess muscle volume, length, and cross-sectional area (CSA), resulting in 138 assessments (mean interval 7.9 months). Brain lesion timing was evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging classification. Linear mixed-effects models defined growth rates, adjusted for GMFCS levels and presumed brain-lesion timing.

Results: At age 12 months, children with SCP showed smaller morphological muscle size than typically developing children (5.8 mL vs 9.8 mL, p < 0.001), while subsequently no differences in muscle growth were found between children with and without SCP (muscle volume: 0.65 mL/month vs 0.74 mL/month). However, muscle volume and CSA growth rates were lower in children classified in GMFCS levels III and IV than typically developing children and those classified in GMFCS levels I and II, with differences ranging from -56% to -70% (p < 0.001).

Interpretation: Muscle growth is already hampered during infancy in SCP. Muscle size growth further reduces with decreasing functional levels, independently from the brain lesion. Early monitoring of muscle growth combined with early intervention is needed.