UEU: Universal Exercise Unit

What is it?

The UEU is a wire device that uses a belt and bungee cords to enable the child to perform balance and strengthening exercises with proper positioning and alignment. It allows the therapist to isolate particular muscle groups, add weight for an exercise, or provide exercises in a gravity-eliminated plane. Research from Elsharkawy et al. (2025) shows that the UEU is an effective form of therapy to build muscle strength. Patients that come to Reach for Speech for the UEU typically have neurological or developmental disorders like Cerebral Palsy, spina bifida, autism, or Down Syndrome. 

What to expect?

Reach for Speech’s intensive program is a customized program for children who need to build strength and improve functional skills.  It consists of:  

1. An intensive burst of physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) 

2. Use of pulleys and weights to strengthen muscles 

3. Use of a dynamic suspension/bungee system called the Universal Exercise Unit (UEU) to focus on improving balance, coordination, and sensory/body awareness 

4. Daily focus on individualized functional goal areas that are developed in collaboration with the family.   

The UEU Intensive Program provides the push a child needs to move to the next level in their development. Three weeks of intensive therapy can bring about progress in a child’s motor skills that may normally take six to twelve months with traditional outpatient therapy. Our program focuses on a child’s individual abilities and works on building their strength and skills to enhance their motor development and take them to the next level and beyond.   

The program focuses on repetition of gross motor movements and trains the child’s brain to make these movements automatic.  Furthermore, it provides a child with a means of proximal stabilization that allows him or her to improve with fine motor precision and strength  Once a child has mastered a movement, they can use it in their everyday activities of sitting, rolling, crawling, transitioning, walking, and playing.