Less Affected Hand in Unilateral Cerebral Palsy When working with children who have hemiplegia, do you address the less affected hand in unilateral cerebral palsy? Or do you assume that the less affected hand is within normal limits for typical child development? Sometimes, the difference between the hands, gives the impression that the less affected […]
The Journal of Physical Therapy Science published research on the effects of the modulation of optic flow speed on gait parameters in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Optic flow is the pattern of motion perceived at the retina, which specifies the direction of locomotion and provides vital feedback concerning an individual’s regulation of walking velocity. Gait analysis was completed […]
A systematic review of the efficacy of nonsurgical upper limb therapies for children with unilateral cerebral palsy was published in Pediatrics. There were 42 randomized control or comparison trials that met the inclusion criteria. The results indicated the following: moderate to strong effects were in favor of intramuscular injections of botulinum toxin A and occupational […]
Clinical Rehabilitation published research on 47 children with unilateral cerebral palsy or other non-progressive hemiplegia (aged 3.3–11.4 years) who were randomly assigned to either a modified constraint-induced movement program (kid-CIMT – 60 hours of unilateral constraint-induced and 20 hours of bimanual training over four weeks) or intensive bimanual training (80 hours of bimanual training over […]
The Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine published research comparing lateral ankle ligaments between the unaffected and affected leg in children with spastic hemiplegia cerebral palsy. Eight children with a mean age of 5.2 years old underwent sonograms of the anterior talofibular ligament and calcaneofibular ligament and the anterior talofibular/calcaneofibular ligament thickness ratio was calculated. In […]
Clinical Rehabilitation published research on the functional abilities of 7 children (ages 2-7) with unilateral cerebral palsy who used a neoprene thumb opponens splint (McKie splint). The children were followed for 4 months – about one month baseline, 2 months intervention and one month follow up. Goal attainment scaling and visual analog scales were used […]
A recent studied examined the use of wrist monitors on 15 children with hemiplegia to study the hypothesis that wrist extension frequency is an indicator of functional hand use. Using video analysis and a wrist monitor that assessed wrist extension frequency, the subjects participated in the Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA). The results indicated that the […]
Research was conducted comparing two groups of children ranging from 3.5 to 10 years old (42 in total) with hemiplegia. The children were randomly assigned to receive 90 hours of constraint induced movement therapy (CIMT) or 90 hours of bimanual training (HABIT). Following the training, both the CIMT and HABIT resulted in improved hand function […]
Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology published research on mirror therapy in children with hemiplegia. Mirror therapy involves the use of a mirror to provide the illusion that the paretic arm is functional. This type of therapy has been used with adults who have had a stroke. For this pilot study, 15 children with hemiplegia were […]
Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology published research on the use of a wrist and thumb brace on bimanual activities in children with hemiplegia cerebral palsy. Twenty five children with spastic hemiplegia cerebral palsy (with mild to moderate hand deformity) performed bimanual activities wearing a brace and not wearing a brace. Assessment results indicated that when […]