Abstract
Langan J, Doyle ST, Hurvitz EA, Brown SH. Influence of task on interlimb coordination
in adults with cerebral palsy.
Objective
To examine movement time and kinematic properties of unilateral and bilateral reaching
movements in adults with cerebral palsy (CP), focusing on how different types of bilateral
movements, simultaneous or sequential, may influence interlimb coordination.
Design
Quantitative study using between-group repeated-measures analyses.
Setting
Motor control laboratory at a research university.
Participants
Adults with hemiplegic CP (n=11; mean age ± SD, 33±10y; 4 men) and age-matched controls
(mean age ± SD, 32±9y; 4 men).
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Movement time (MT), maximum deviation from a straight trajectory to the target, and
peak speed.
Results
Although adults with hemiplegic CP showed strong unilateral deficits, bilateral simultaneous
reaching movements were temporally and spatially coupled. Movement of the less affected
arm slowed to match the movement of the more affected arm. In contrast, bilateral
sequential movements improved MTs of the less affected and more affected arms.
Conclusions
Bilateral sequential movements were conducive to faster MT compared with unilateral
or bilateral simultaneous movements. Training that includes bilateral sequential movements
may be beneficial to adults with hemiplegic CP. Upper-limb movements are coordinated
in a variety of ways to perform routine bilateral tasks. Some bilateral tasks, such
as stacking boxes, require more symmetric movements of the upper limbs. Other bilateral
tasks, such as opening the refrigerator with 1 hand while placing an item on the shelf
with the other hand, emphasize coordinated sequential action between upper limbs.
Despite the prevalence of integrative upper-limb use, the control of different forms
of bilateral movement is not well understood. A more comprehensive knowledge of upper-limb
bilateral movements may hold important implications for developing more effective
upper-limb movement therapies.
Key Words
List of Abbreviations:
CP (cerebral palsy), MT (movement time)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Footnotes
Supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (grant no. H133G050151) and the University of Michigan Medical Rehabilitation Research Training Program funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (grant no. T32HD007422).
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Reprints are not available from the author.
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
