International Journal of Traditional System of Medicine

EFFICACY OF TASK ORIENTED MOTOR SKILL TRAINING PROGRAM WITH SEGMENTAL TRUNK STABILIZATION ON ACQUISITION OF POSTURAL CONTROL IN YOUNG CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY

FuzailAhmad1* and Nasreen Akthar2

fuzail_ad@yahoo.co.in

Motor skill, Segmental Stabilization, Postural Control.

Children with CP are extremely heterogeneous in terms of etiology and clinical features. The diversity of symptoms among CP syndromes is a challenge for different areas of health research in terms of definition and classification. This study is designed to find the effectiveness of task oriented motor skill training with stabilization at specific spinal segments at improving postural control in children with CP. A matched pairs randomised, evaluator-blinded trial was carried out using functional training program to evaluate the efficacy of the training on postural control with trunk stabilization at different level in children with cerebral palsy aged 5 to 10years.Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) was used to evaluate goal attainment Segmental Assessment of Trunk Control (SATCo) to measure trunk control. This test indicates that children with severe CP lost postural control in the cervical or upper thoracic spine while those with moderate CP lost control in the upper to mid thoracic spine. ANOVA showed significant differences between groups for static (F(5,70)=48.79, p<.0005), active (F(5,70)=35.89, p<.0005), and reactive (F(5,70)=36.09, p<.0005) tests on the SATCo. The repeated measures design of the present study was chosen to take anticipated variability in the children's functioning into consideration, along with considerations regarding feasibility. While the same child is tested in each condition, variability among the children can be measured and separated from error, and smaller but consistent change can be detected as opposed to group designs, where the variability among subjects are uncontrolled and are treated as error. When the task oriented motor skills training was used with trunk segmental trunk stabilization, children decreased the amount of compensatory trunk displacement during reaching and grasping activities. However, when task oriented motor skills training was used alone, the improvement in movement quality could be accompanied by an increase in compensatory trunk displacement.