Active clinical trials for "Cerebral Palsy"

The investigators proposed a controlled, single-blind, unicentric, crossover, randomized, clinical trial to test the effects of immersive virtual environments and wearable haptic devices in the rehabilitation of children with neuromotor impairments. In addition, the proposed approach was compared with respect to conventional therapy. A sample of 8 participants was randomly divided into 2 groups and they attended one of the two therapeutic approach for 4 weeks before crossing over and inverting the therapy. Between the two interventions, there was a wash out period of 4 weeks. The investigators assessed motor abilities of the children with validated clinical scales and motion analysis before/after each phase of the study (T0: baseline, T1: after 4 weeks, T2: after 8 weeks, T3: after 16 weeks, and T4: up to 24 weeks).

Children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) often walk with insufficient ankle dorsiflexion in the swing phase. A pathological gait, known as drop-foot gait, can be the result and this has 2 major complications: foot-slap during loading response and toe-drag during swing. This is partly caused by weakness of the anterior tibial muscle and partly due to co-contraction of both the fibular- and anterior tibial muscle. For classification of gait, the Winters scale can be used, where unilateral CP with dropfoot is classified as type I. In daily life these problems cause limited walking distance and frequent falls, leading to restrictions in participating in daily life. The current guideline for spastic cerebral palsy describes the following therapies: 1) conservative therapy (physiotherapy, orthopaedic shoes and orthoses) 2) drugs suppressing spasticity 3) surgical interventions. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) may be an effective alternative treatment for children with spastic CP and a drop foot. By stimulating the fibular nerve or the anterior tibial muscle directly during the swing phase, dorsiflexion of the foot is stimulated. In contrast to bracing, FES does not restrict motion, but does produce muscle contraction, and thus has the potential to increase strength and motor control through repetitive neural stimulation over time. In a systematic review the investigators found that FES immediately improves ankle dorsal flexion and reduces falls and these effects also sustain. However, it should be noted that the level of evidence is limited. Until now, the use of FES in CP is limited and no data exist about the effects on walking distance (activity level) and participation level. The overall objective of this study is to conduct a randomised cross-over intervention trial in children with unilateral spastic CP with 12 weeks of FES (for every participant) and 18 weeks of conventional therapy. The effectiveness of FES will be examined at participation leven, using individual goal attainment. Next to that the effect at gait will be measured. An additional goal is to investigate the cost effectiveness of FES, which, in case of a positive effect, may support allowance by insurance companies.

This study examines the effect of short burst interval treadmill training in ambulatory children with cerebral palsy. Half the sample will receive 20 sessions of training over 4 weeks, while half will receive the training over 10 weeks.

Osteopenia is common in children with cerebral palsy (CP) due to poor bone growth and muscle disuse and the problem extends to their adulthood. These children and young adults with CP, especially those with moderate physical disabilities, are unable to perform the required amount of exercise to improve their bone health as their typically developing counterparts. As a result, non-traumatic fractures and bone pain are common in individuals with moderate severity of CP. Whole body vibration therapy (WBVT) has been recently proven to improve bone health and muscle function in healthy adults and post-menopausal women. Among the research of the WBVT for children with CP, promising results have been shown on gross motor function, balance and muscle strength for children with mild disability. Among these published studies, the vibration protocols required the study participants to perform simple exercises on the vibration platform. Very limited studies have been conducted on children and young adults with moderate CP. At present, it is unknown if the effect of WBVT would be for this population group when compared with those with mild CP in terms of their gross motor function and balance, because the moderate group is greatly compromised in their mobility and extent of regular exercises when compared with the normal population and those with mild CP. In addition, it is unknown if static standing on the vibration platform would have similar effects on the gross motor function as doing simple exercises on the vibration platform. This pilot study aims to examine the effect of WBVT on children and young adults with moderate severity of CP. A convenience sample of 5 pre-puberty children aged between 6 to 14 years and 5 young adults aged between 18 to 40 years with moderate CP, i.e. Gross Motor Function Classification System, GMFCS level III or IV, will be recruited to systematically investigate the effects of WBVT on their functional abilities.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a permanent, non-progressive disorder in which the immature brain is affected by various causes in the prenatal, perinatal or postnatal period. Damage to the central nervous system in children with CP causes motor problems, balance and postural disorders. It is reported in the literature that the effects of balance and the effects of balance exercises in children with CP, similarly respiratory effects were also investigated. Balance and balance responses are especially important in children with ambulatory SP and balance problems are seen in most CP children. Insufficient control of respiratory muscles affects pulmonary ventilation negatively in children with CP. However, it seems that CP has limited articles in which respiratory muscle strength is investigated, and also limited studies involving inspiratory muscle training. Inspiratory muscle training is shown to improve pulmonary function and diaphragm (which is one of the core muscles) strength and have an effect on balance. Studies showed that respiratory muscle strength in children with CP is lower than in children with normal development. Nevertheless, there was no study showing the effects of respiratory muscle training on functional capacity and balance in children with CP. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of balance training and inspiratory muscle training on functional capacity, balance, respiratory function and respiratory muscle strength in children with CP.

Cerebral Palsy is a disorder of movement and posture due to deficit or lesion of immature brain. Out of all types of cerebral palsy 77.4% is spastic cerebral palsy. Spasticity is resistance to externally imposed movement increases with increasing speed of stretch and varies with the direction of joint movement. In this research the aim of our study is to measure the effects of post isometric relaxation and eccentric muscle energy technique of spasticity of hamstring muscle in cerebral palsy children in randomized controlled study. Study duration is of six months. Sampling will be lottery method. Inclusion criteria will include individuals having age between five to fifteen with diplegic cerebal palsy, well oriented and spastic hamstrings with Ashworth score +2 or +3.Exclusion criteria includes children with flaccid and mixed cerebral palsy, quadriplegic and hemiplegic cerebral palsy and mentally retarded. Data will be collected on structured questionnaire. those individuals who fulfill inclusion criteria will be divided into two groups .both groups will be treated with hot packs for ten minutes and static stretching. Group 1 will be given post isometric relaxation technique and group 2 will be given eccentric muscle energy technique. Post interventional analysis will be done at sixth week. Data will be analysed with SPSS 21.

Ambulatory children with cerebral palsy (CP) demonstrate altered lower limb biomechanical alignment in walking (e.g. excessive hip/knee flexion or equinus during stance) and experience walking activity limitations that negatively influence their ability to participate in day to day life. Ankle Foot Orthoses (AFO) are a fundamental rehabilitation strategy to facilitate walking in children with CP; yet, a review suggests that efficacy of the "traditional" solid AFO (TSAFO) in this population remains equivocal. A novel decision tree to guide orthotic prescription proposes a patient-specific method for adjusting AFO alignment and integrating footwear modifications (Ankle Foot Orthoses-Footwear Combinations, AFO-FC). This approach is based on visualizing the sagittal plane orientation of the ground reaction force vector with respect to lower limb segments during gait. The AFO-FC represents a paradigm shift in orthotic management as it accommodates ankle equinus contractures in a rigid AFO, reorients the tibial segment with a heel wedge under the AFO, and applies different heel, midsole and forefoot shoe modifications to restore lost ankle-foot rockers. The primary goal of AFO-FCs are to improve stability by facilitating more normal segment kinematics in single limb stance, decreasing hip/knee flexion. Despite their promise, evidence of an immediate positive effect on midstance alignment is limited, with no evidence of clinical effectiveness. This proposal assesses the feasibility of using a randomized waitlist study to acquire pilot data on a targeted clinical cohort of children with CP evaluating the effectiveness of AFO-FCs as compared to TSAFO during daily life. Individual joint and combined kinematics and kinetics will be examined for potential mechanisms of action as well as daily walking performance, balance and satisfaction with the AFO-FC in 30 ambulatory children with CP, ages 4-9 years, with bilateral crouch or equinus gait pattern, comparing gait in TSAFO to the AFO-FCs.

Background: Most patients with cerebral palsy (CP) are dependent on parents due to the spasticity and limitations in their gross motor function. Additionally, many of them do not respond to physical therapy due to deterioration in their nutritional status, which is secondary to gastrointestinal disorders, parasitosis, dysbiosis and the catabolic state of the disease itself. Evidence suggests that greater independence and better clinical response can be achieved by correcting the nutritional status. However, basic treatments only contemplate the calculation of energy requirements and do not consider important nutrients in particular, supplementation with glutamine, arginine, zinc, selenium, colecalciferol, nicotinic acid, spirulina, omega 3, ascorbic acid, vegetal protein or even probiotics. Objective: To determine the effect of using a nutritional support system (NSS) diet, supplements and probiotic on the gross motor function in children with CP with spastic diparesic and Gross Motor Function Classification System III (GMFCS III). Material and methods: In an exploratory study with controlled clinical trial design, 30 patients were randomly assigned to receive: 1) dietary surveillance and conventional therapy (FG), 2) deworming and WHO diet (CG), or 3) deworming and the NSS (IG). The patients were recruited from the Children´s Telethon Rehabilitation Center (CRIT) in Tlalnepantla Estado de México. Males and females aged 4-12 years were included with CP and spastic diparesic GMFCS III, who had a full-time caregiver and whose parents agreed to participate. They were studied for thirteen weeks. Gross motor function was evaluated at baseline and at 7 and 13 weeks after therapy using the GMFM scale.

Safety and Effectiveness of Autologous Adipose Tissue Derived mesenchymal Stem Cell Implantation in Patients with CP

The aim of this study will be to evaluate the the effect of Thera Togs soft orthotic undergarment on modulation of the spinal geometry and mobility in sagittal plan in children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.