The influence of vibration on the quality of gait in women with cerebral palsy

Abstract

In contrast to a normal gait, the locomotion of people with infantile cerebral palsy (ICP) is characterized by great variability. An experiment was conducted to determine if the use of whole-body vibrations changes the time of support by each of the extremities as well as the range of flexion of the hip and knee articulations. Three women with ICP were involved in the whole-body vibration experiment. The parameters of the vibration adopted during training were a frequency of 20 Hz and an amplitude of 2 mm. The BTS Smart system for three-plane movement analysis paired with a desktop computer was used for the evaluation of gait parameters. The vibration procedure improved the range of flexion in knee articulation but did not change the range of flexion in hip articulation. The equalization of time disparities in the load of both extremities was obtained after the first treatment procedure. In this investigated group, the vibration procedure may be a complement to the rehabilitation process.

Vibration therapy in patients with cerebral palsy: a systematic review

“…Myśliwiec et al found increased ROM in the knee joint but no change in the hip joint after 4 weeks of vertical WBV application in three female adults with spastic CP. 47 Yabumoto et al found a trend in their case report of an 8-year-old boy with CP (GMFCS level III) for improved ROM after a 5-week intervention of vertical WBV application complementing conventional physiotherapy. 63 Furthermore, Camerota et al observed increased passive ROM in the ankle joint and increased functional mobility in joints of the lower extremities during gait in a 1-month follow-up after 3-day focal vibration applied to the muscle belly of the triceps surae in a child with triplegic CP (GMFCS level II).…”

“…Long-term adaptations refer to chronic changes manifested after repeated sessions of VT executed over weeks or months. The duration of applied vibration ranges from 30 seconds 46 to 1, 47 – 49 3, 48 , 50 – 56 5, 57 9, 58 , 59 and 10 minutes, 36 , 60 with the number of sets ranging from one to six. A summary of methodological quality can be found in Table 2 .…”

“…The majority of the studies cited (21) were executed in subjects aged 3–17 years. Seven cross-sectional experiments 15 , 30 , 31 , 33 , 35 , 37 , 38 and 14 longitudinal trials 46 , 50 – 60 , 63 , 64 elaborated the efficiency of VT in children, whereas only three 32 , 34 , 36 cross-sectional and four 36 , 47 – 49 longitudinal studies included adult volunteers older than 17 years. In the last few decades, scientific debate in the field of neurorehabilitation has consistently concluded that training regimes commonly achieve higher efficiency in children compared to adolescent patient groups.…”