Effectiveness of resistance training exercises in spastic diplegia cerebral palsy: a review

Cerebral Palsy presents itself in a clinical form of spastic diplegia, where neurological sequels are predominant in the lower limbs and substantially affects the capacity to walk. Traditional methods of physiotherapy intervention emphasize the techniques of neurological rehabilitation at the expense of progressive resistance exercises.The goal of the present research is to fulfill a bibliographic review concerning the period of 1985 to 2012 about studies that investigated the effect of resistance exercises applied to cerebral palsy children carrying spastics’ diplegia. The Scielo, MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Sports Discus, DARE, PsychInfo, ERIC, Ausport-Med, AMI, Cochrane and PEDro databases were used to conduct a literature search using keywords without restrictions. In this systematization, a search was conducted using the keywords: cerebral palsy, progressive resistance exercise, diplegia, gross motor function measure (GMFM). Literature have shown that the restrict capacity to generate force is as debilitating or more than it is the muscle spasticity, potentially causing more restriction to the movement than the spasticity itself. Children with normal motor development, as well as carrying spastic diplegia increase their capacity to generate strength when submitted to a resistive training, not only on lower limbs, but also on upper limbs. Furthermore, several studies have shown that diplegic cerebral palsy children improve their motor ability due to strength training, thought it still remains to be proved that strength training leads to a substantial change for the better allowing that there is ascension of category for functional capacity.

Estudo de transferência e locomoção em crianças de 4 a 6 anos com paralisia diparética espástica nível motor III / Study about transfer and locomotion in 4 to 6 years-old children with motor level III spastic diplegig cerebral palsy

Este estudo objetivou traçar o perfil funcional de crianças com paralisia cerebral diparética espástica nível motor III, quanto ao desempenho de atividades de mobilidade – transferência e locomoção –, a fim de direcionar estratégias terapêuticas de avaliação e de intervenção nesta população. O estudo teve a participação de oito crianças que frequentavam o Setor de Fisioterapia Infantil da Associação de Assistência à Criança Deficiente (AACD). As crianças foram avaliadas pelo teste funcional PEDI, sendo utilizada apenas a escala de mobilidade das três partes que o compõem, que teve como referencial de comparação o GMFM. Os resultados demonstraram maior dificuldade dessas crianças nas atividades de locomoção, comparadas com as de transferência. Há necessidade de adequar a assistência do cuidador e as modificações do ambiente para promover maior independência e funcionalidade às crianças.

Establishing the functional profile of children with motor level III spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, regarding the performance of mobility activities – transfer and locomotion – in order to direct therapeutic strategies for evaluating and intervening in this population was the goal of this study. Eight children who attended the Children’s Physical Therapy Department of the Associação de Assistência à Criança Deficiente (AACD) took part in this study. These children were evaluated by the functional test PEDI – only the mobility scale of the three parts that compose the test was used, and had the GMFM as a comparison reference. The results have showed that children have greater difficulty in locomotion compared to transfer. There is the need to adequate caretaker assistance and to adapt the environment to promote higher independency and functionality to the children.

Responsiveness and precision of Gross Motor Function Measure(66 items version) / 中国康复理论与实践

@#ObjectiveTo compare the responsiveness and precision between the 66 items version of Gross Motor Function Measure(GMFM-66) and 88 items version(GMFM-88).Methods173 children with cerebral palsy(male 126,female 47) who have received twice assessments were involved.All the second assessment were performed 3.8±4.3 months later.112 children received the third assessment 3.2±2.2 months after the second assessment.The effect size and relative precision between the GMFM-66 and GMFM-88 were analyzed.ResultsThe effect size of GMFM-66 between every two assessments was nearly the same as those of GMFM-88.The precision of GMFM-66 was not lower than that of GMFM-88.ConclusionThe interval-scale GMFM-66 has satisfying responsiveness and precision.It is more useful than GMFM-88 in measuring the treating effect of children with cerebral palsy.

Scoring of Norms of the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) in Normal Children

OBJECTIVE: We performed to obtain the normal values of Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) in normally developed children. We designed this study to inform the degree of gross motor functional disability or delay in children with cerebral palsy, comparing with score values of GMFM in normal children. METHOD: One hundred-sixteen normally developed children who were in the age of 12 to 47 months were recruited. Their GMFM tests were performed by a pediatric physical therapist. They were grouped by age of 6 months and the scores were compared with all of each groups. Results: The GMFM scores in normal children increased with ages. The rates of increment in scores were fast till 35 months of age and inter-individual differences of GMFM scores were greater in younger age groups (less than 36 months of age) than older groups. Even the means of GMFM scores were higher in the girls than boys, the differences between sexes were insignificant statistically. CONCLUSION: Norms of GMFM obtained in normally developed children who were in the age of 12 to 47 months. It would be helpful to assess the degree of motor functional disabilities or delay in children with physical disabilities.