Cerebral Palsy, Pain, and Motor Skills

When working on motor skills with children who have cerebral palsy, do you consider pain management as well? A recent study took a close look at pain levels, motor skill abilities and children with cerebral palsy.

Methodology – Study on Cerebral Palsy, Pain, and Motor Skills

Data was extracted from a national survey completed by parents of 151 participants aged 6 to 17 years with a medical diagnosis of cerebral palsy (CP) and 9177 typically developing children (TDC). Using statistical analysis data was evaluated on the associations among CP, pain, difficulty dressing or bathing, and participation in sport while controlling for age, sex, and race.

Results of the Study

The data analysis indicated the following:

children with CP (57%) were much more likely to have difficulty dressing or bathing when compared to TDC (0.2%)
less than one-half of the children with CP (30.1%) were likely to participate in a sports activity versus 66% for TDC

When the researchers took a closer look at chronic pain, the results indicated that:

chronic pain was also 4.5 times more prevalent in children with CP
CP with pain were 3.03 times more likely to have difficulty in dressing or bathing compared with children with CP without pain
children with CP with pain were 60% less likely to participate in sports compared with children with CP without pain

Conclusion

The researchers concluded that difficulty dressing or bathing and low participation in sport were much more common among children with CP than among TDC. These difficulties increased further if the children experienced pain.

Difficulties associated with dressing or bathing and participation in sport are associated with the poor motor control of children with CP, and these findings suggest that pain is also an important contributing factor that should not be overlooked.

The researchers recommend that clinicians should consider regularly check ups identifying and screening for pain in children with cerebral palsy.

Reference:

Rochani, H. D., Modlesky, C. M., Li, L., Weissman, B., Vova, J., & Colquitt, G. (2021). Association of Chronic Pain With Participation in Motor Skill Activities in Children With Cerebral Palsy. JAMA Network Open, 4(7), e2115970-e2115970.