Effects of a Postoperative Strength-Training Program on the Walking Ability of Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Presented in part to the European Society for Movement Analysis of Adults and Children, 2004, Warsaw, Poland.
Abstract
Patikas D, Wolf SI, Mund K, Armbrust P, Schuster W, Döderlein L. Effects of a postoperative strength-training program on the walking ability of children with cerebral palsy: a randomized controlled trial.
Objective
To investigate the effect of a postoperative strength-training program on the walking of children with cerebral palsy (CP).
Design
Randomized controlled trial.
Setting
Hospital rehabilitation department.
Participants
Thirty-nine children with CP (age range, 6−16y). After orthopedic surgery, the control group (n=20) followed a conventional physiotherapy (PT) program, and the strength-training group (n=19) followed a strength-training program in addition to the conventional PT. Twenty-nine age-matched healthy children were used as references.
Intervention
A 9-month strength-training program.
Main Outcome Measures
Spatiotemporal, kinematic, and kinetic parameters during gait analysis were analyzed before (E0) and 1 year after (E1) the surgery. For 22 children, a 2-year postoperative gait analysis (E2) took place as well.
Results
At E1, several kinematic and kinetic parameters improved, although there was no significant difference between the groups. Spatiotemporal parameters showed a worsening at E1 and a recovery to preoperative values at E2.
Conclusions
The examined parameters may be more substantially influenced by factors such as the surgery outcome and the variability of pathologic characteristics than by the strength-training program per se. However, a more significant effect of the strength-training may appear if more intense and short-term training protocols are used, considering factors such as patients’ motivations, ages, and postoperative statuses.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
Reprint requests to Dimitrios Patikas, PhD, Dept of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Schlierbacher Landstr 200a, 69118 Heidelberg, Germany.
Supported by the Department for Science Research and Arts of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the authors are associated.
ABSTRACT