Interception of moving objects while walking in children with Spastic Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to examine the coordination of reaching and walking behaviour when children with Spastic Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy (SHCP) intercept an approaching and hence externally-timed object. Method. Using either the impaired or non-impaired arm, children intercepted a ball approaching from a fixed distance with one of three velocities. Each participant's initial starting position was scaled to their maximum walking velocity determined prior to testing; for the medium ball velocity, participants would arrive at the point of interception at the correct time if they walked with their maximum velocity. Results. Children with SHCP adapted their reaching and walking behaviour to the different ball approach velocities. These adaptations were exhibited when using the impaired and non-impaired arm, and resulted in similar outcome performance irrespective of which arm was used. Still, children with SHCP found it necessary to increase trunk movement to compensate for the decreased elbow excursion and a decreased peak velocity of the impaired arm. Conclusion. Children with SHCP exhibited specific adaptations to their altered movement capabilities when performing a behaviourally-realistic task. The provision of an external timing constraint appeared to facilitate both reaching and walking movements and hence could represent a useful technique in rehabilitation.

Cognitive and motor aspects of a coincidence-timing task in Cerebral Palsy children

“…These effects increased in children [11,12,14]. Other studies showed that CP children were perfectly able to adapt to stimulus velocity by varying movement time without significantly changing the time of movement initiation [15,16].…”

“…However, this behavior may be of importance to improve the rehabilitation process, considering the numerous daily life situations in which anticipation-coincidence may be involved, such as playing music, catching a ball, avoiding a moving obstacle, etc. For instance, it has been shown that CP children developed specific adaptations to compensate for their sensory-motor deficits and to provide correct behavioral responses when performing a task requiring to walk at various velocities for catching a stationary or moving ball [15,16].…”

Upper limb activity in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy: the role of vision in movement strategies

“…found that range of motion of the impaired arm when banging a drum was larger than when instructed to extend as far as possible. It is clear that relevant and challenging task demands facilitate children with USCP to exploit fully the available degrees of freedom to achieve optimal movement solutions …”

“…It is clear that relevant and challenging task demands facilitate children with USCP to exploit fully the available degrees of freedom to achieve optimal movement solutions. 7,10,14 Musculoskeletal system DOFs…”

“…The effect of external temporal constraints was examined further in a follow‐up experiment, where the ball approached the children from a fixed distance at three velocities, thus with three different times‐to‐arrival. Time‐to‐arrival was scaled to the maximum walking speed of each child; for the medium ball velocity condition, participants would arrive at the point of interception at the correct time if they walked with their maximum walking speed.…”