The Effects of Functional Progressive Strength and Power Training in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a novel functional strength and power-training program on gait and gross motor function in participants with unilateral cerebral palsy. Methods: This 12-week trial of functional strength and power training included 30 participants with cerebral palsy, randomly assigned to the experimental or comparison group. The primary outcomes, 1-minute walk test, muscle power, and the Gross Motor Function Measure, were assessed at baseline and 12 weeks after the intervention. Secondary outcomes included dynamic balance as measured by Timed Up and Go, muscle strength, and 1-repetition maximum measures. Results: Significantly greater improvements were seen in the experimental group for muscle power, Gross Motor Function Measure E score, and 1-minute walk test (P < .05), as well as for dynamic balance, 1-repetition maximum, and muscle strength. Conclusion: Functional strength training combined with plyometric exercises improved gait and gross motor function, dynamic balance, muscle strength, and power. Video Abstract: For more insights from the authors, access Supplemental Digital Content 1, available at: http://links.lww.com/PPT/A254

Effectiveness of exercise interventions for children with cerebral palsy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…No new relevant reviews or original articles were found through manual searches of the reference lists. As a result, a final total of 27 RCTs met the inclusion criteria and were selected for the meta-analysis ( 29 – 55 ). Details of the literature search and study selection are shown in Fig.…”

Standardized Outcomes Measures in Physical Therapy Practice for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Cerebral PALSY: A Systematic Review

“…In order to assess dynamic balance, the authors only performed three tests and were not developed for children with CP. Time Up and Go test (TUG) was the instrument more widely used [12,15,19,27,29,[41][42][43]45,51,52], probably due to the simplicity of the test administration. To measure spasticity, authors had primarily used the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) [25,28,38,40,52,53]; this tool shows a solid, literature-based, inter-and intra-rater agreement, exhibiting a better reliability when measuring upper rather than lower extremities [59].…”

“…Others physical capacities, such as muscle strength, gait, and anaerobic fitness, were also well investigated in the studies selected. The instruments preferred for measuring outcomes for each variable were the hand-held dynamometer [25,33,34,36,37,45], 3D gait analysis [24,29,44,50], and the Muscle Power Sprint Test [14,17,19,43,45]. Similarly, when the studies focused on the assessment of gait, muscle balance, and activity performance, the authors preferred technological resources.…”

“…For gait analysis, the authors proposed tools based on three-dimensional analysis and videography [15,24,29,30,38,44,46,50]. For the assessment of muscle strength, several authors proposed the use of dynamometers [24,25,33,34,36,37,45,46]. Muscle activity was measured by electromyography [38], and magnetic resonance imaging [34] and ultrasonography [46,51] were proposed for the assessment of muscle structure and volume.…”

“…The therapeutic interventions in CP analyzed with the assessment instruments presented were gaming or technology-assisted therapies, which were the most common type of intervention used by the authors [15,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33], followed by electrotherapy management [12,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41], and strength training [42][43][44][45][46]. Although less frequently, the studies investigated aerobic training [14][15][16][17], hippotherapy [18,47], music therapy [48,49], gait training [50], and aquatic exercise [51].…”