Active clinical trials for "Cerebral Palsy"

If a child with cerebral palsy does not develop independent sitting balance by 4 years of age, their prognosis for walking is very poor. Surprisingly little is known about how to facilitate head control or upright sitting balance and functional mobility in the child who is not developing these skills. This is one of the first studies that will examine intermediate stages in the development of the postural control system in children with neurologic deficits. Clinical researchers at The Movement Centre in Oswestry, England have developed a method called Targeted Training in which trunk control is trained in children segment by segment using a specific training device. This study aims to examine kinematic and electromyographic changes in a case series of children who undergo a 6-month Targeted Training intervention.

The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of a 6 months upper arm proprioceptive pressure therapy on Assisting Hand Assessment ("AHA") performance in Cerebral Palsy (CP). To perform this study, 80 CP patients aged of 5 to 10 years old will be included in a multicentric, double blind, prospective parallel-group randomized study. Treatment will be a pressure therapy using a LYCRA® compressive sleeve initially used in burn therapy. Primary outcome is to increase of 60% of AHA performance. The secondary outcome are to increase Quality of Upper Extremity Skill Test (QUEST), quality of life and improve Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SEP).

This study will evaluate the long-term safety of BOTOX® (botulinum toxin Type A) for the treatment of pediatric upper limb spasticity.

Measuring spine dynamics is a necessity in order to better understand gait deviations throughout the whole body and to evaluate treatment effects on spinal movement during gait. However, the full body marker sets that are typically used in opto-electronic 3D gait analyses either disregard the spine entirely or regard it as a rigid structure. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to use an enhanced trunk marker set in order to evaluate the biomechanical effects of lower extremity treatments on spine dynamics in patients with different pathologies. It has been hypothesized that the enhanced trunk marker set is a reliable method for the measurement of spine dynamics during gait in patients with deviations occurring secondary to leg length inequality. the enhanced trunk marker set is a reliable method for the measurement of spine dynamics during gait in patients that present both primary and secondary deviations such as seen in hemiplegic and diplegic cerebral palsy. treatment by means of either a shoe insole or a modified shoe with sole lift on the shorter side has an effect on spine dynamics during gait in patients with leg length inequality. treatment by means of an ankle foot orthosis to control the foot position has an effect on spine dynamics during gait in patients with hemiplegic and diplegic cerebral palsy. To verify the hypotheses, instrumented gait analyses with a standard full body marker set and the enhanced trunk marker set will be carried out before and immediately after an orthotic lower extremity treatment in the respective patient group.

Research on the effects of physiotherapeutic interventions in children with CP has grown expansively, and shows a wide diversity of techniques and concepts that are used in variable intensity. Until now there is no consensus on the optimal intensity of these interventions to have a positive impact on the activity and participation level of these children. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis already showed evidence for the effect of intensive training of hand function in children with CP, including short bursts of highly intensive therapy. In contrast, studies on the effect of intensive therapy of gross motor function were limited, and training was performed at a lower intensity during a longer period, resulting in effects that are more inconclusive. Moreover, none of the reviewed studies included improvement of trunk control as one of their treatment goals, although it is known that most children with CP experience some problems with trunk control, to a variable extent. This research project has two aims, i.e. 1) investigating the effect of intensive therapy camps on qualitative and quantitative parameters of lower limbs and trunk; and 2) comparing the effect of two therapeutic approaches, namely a functional approach versus a more qualitative-functional approach on these parameters.

The aim of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of using rehabilitation-specific gaming in physical therapy of children with cerebral palsy. The primary goal of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of integrating 15 to 20 minutes of gaming using a rehabilitation-specific gaming platform into standard physiotherapy sessions on the achievement of individual goals of children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy with GMFCS level III-IV. The secondary goal of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of integrating 15 to 20 minutes of gaming using a rehabilitation-specific gaming platform into standard physiotherapy sessions on trunk control and gross motor function of children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy with GMFCS level III-IV.

Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) present limited performance of functional activities and activities of daily life. Kinesio taping has been definied as a promising technique for children with CP ans has been extensively used in clinical practice. However, several studies have found a low level of evidence of its effectiveness in healthy individuals. We aim to evaluate the effects of the immediate application of Kinesio taping on the activation of the rectus femoris and anterior tibialis muscles and on the duration of sit-to-stand movement in children with CP.

This study evaluates the therapeutic effects of constraint-induced movement therapy on infants and children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Half of the participants will receive CIMT (constraint-induced movement therapy) and others will not.

Youth with physical disabilities face greater restrictions to participation in community-based activities than their typically developing peers, which can lead to poor health outcomes. Emerging treatment approaches aimed at improving activity and participation have shifted from focusing only on impaired body functions towards the performance of functionally meaningful activities within the youth's natural environment. It is unclear, however, whether targeting intervention at the activity/participation level can, at the same time, result in improvement of personal functional skills (e.g., reaching) and body functions (e.g., range of motion) -components also important to address and maintain within the rehabilitation process. Together with key community-based stakeholders including youth/parents, clinicians, and policy-makers, the investigators plan, therefore, to examine whether engaging in a 6-week community based activity (e.g., joining a sledge hockey team, boccia) can lead to a significant improvement in three key body functions: motor, cognitive and affective functions. Eight participants with physical disabilities will take part in the study and engage in an activity program of their own choice. Changes in their body functions (e.g., movement-related functions, attention, behavior, mood) will be measured multiple times before, during and after the engagement in an individualized activity/program. Findings of this pilot study analyzed with input from key stakeholders can advance the investigators understanding about methods for testing complex and unique individual-based interventions. This can guide clinicians, families and policy-makers to select effective approaches that not only promote participation but can also facilitate additional (motor and mental) benefits from one single intervention. Such findings may also reduce the burdens on the healthcare system as well as on the youth and families.

A new rehabilitative approach, called AOT, based on the recent discovery of mirror neuron system (MNS), has been used with promising results on the Upper Limb (UL) function in some studies in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP).The purpose of the present trial is to provide evidence by a RCT that AOT is an effective rehabilitation tool in Children with Unilateral CP (UCP) and that its effects are greater than standard care. Assisting Hand Assessment is chosen as primary outcome measure and a sample size of 10 per group is required. The rehabilitation lasting 3 weeks will be provided at home by an ICT platform able to deliver, manage, monitor and measure a personalized AOT.