My Bachelor’s in Exercise Science has equipped knowledge of the human anatomy and physiology, and exercise testing and prescription for people of different ages and health conditions. During my attendance at the University of Texas at Arlington, I joined the Little Mavs Movement Academy directed by Dr. Priscilla Cacola. I volunteered for a year in this program; while in the program I had the opportunity to learn about developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and how it interferes with activities of daily living and learning of
Olama, K.A., & Thabit, N.S. (2010) performed a randomized controlled trial to determine the efficacy of whole body vibration (WBV) and a designed physical therapy program versus suspension therapy and the same designed physical therapy intervention in balance control in children with hemiparetic CP. Criteria for inclusion for the study were children with hemiparesis cerebral palsy from both sexes ages 8 to 10 years old, able to understand commands given to them, able to stand and walk independently with frequent falling, and balance problems ( as confirmed by the Tilt Board Balance Test). The exclusion criteria consisted of presence of any medical condition such as vision and hearing loss, cardiac abnormalities, and musculoskeletal disorders. Children who met the criteria (n=30) were recruited from the outpatient clinic, College of Physical Therapy, Cairo University The randomization was done according to the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS). Treatment allocations were done by the selection of a closed envelope randomly selected. Parents and children were informed of the treatment allocation after the selection, procedures were explained to both of them and signed assent and consent were obtained.
This study consisted of seventeen children with cerebral palsy (CP) that participated in an 18 week riding program which was held at a therapeutic horseback riding center in New York. This particular program used the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) test which has shown great amounts of validity and reliability when assessing motor function in children with CP. Another test used was The
First, the manual muscle test (MMT) established by Daniels and Worthingham evaluates muscle strength in six stages, ranging from 0 (no muscle contraction) to 5 (able to resist strong resistance). The hip joint flexor muscle strength and knee joint extensor muscle strength on the affected side were measured, and the average of the two measurements was used in the analysis. Second, the motor age test (MAT) is based on an evaluation table in which typical motor items in normal childhood development are converted into scores. Scores are allocated to individual motor items. The score varies from 0 to 72 points (or 0–72 months), where 72 points represents the greatest motor ability. Third, Katz’s index (KI) is basic motions of daily living activity in a hospital room were evaluated at the time of initiation of exercise in a rehabilitation room. The KI evaluates whether the patient can perform the following six items, by themselves or with assistance, bathing, dressing, going to the lavatory, movement, self-control of urination and defecation, and eating meals. The evaluation is made using seven categories, from A (all items are performed independently) to G (all items need assistance), based on the number of items performed
conducted a study on 34 children from 3-12 years old who had bilateral spastic (32) or unilateral CP (2) to investigate the effectiveness of hippotherapy. The participants took part in forty-five minute hippotherapy sessions twice a week for an eight week period. These sessions were conducted by a registered occupational therapist (OT) who had been accredited by the American Hippotherapy Association, an assistant to lead the horse, and a volunteer sidewalker. Baseline tests for physical function were conducted prior to the intervention therapy. The participants were then tested for progress after the hippotherapy program had commenced. The measurement tests utilized were: GMFM 66, GMFM 88, and PEDI-FSS. A control group of 21 children with CP were tested and included in the study for comparison and
The results of all measurements, including gait analysis, are dependent on test conditions. Gait analysis data should always be interpreted with regard to a thoroughly defined test situation. [4] recorded data from 81 young adults in respect to basic gait and symmetry measures. Results recorded for the participant gait outcome measures were fairly similar to what that was reported by [4].
The Peabody developmental motor scale was designed to assess the motor skills in children from birth through 6 years of age, this assessment use six subtests that
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a term that encompasses a group of non-progressive syndromes of posture and motor problems next to lesions in the brain from early development (Appleton & Gupta, 2001). This disorder is caused by disturbances to the fetal or infant central nervous system (Jones, Morgan, Shelton, & Thorogood, 2007). There are two types of cerebral palsy, spastic and non spastic (Jones, Morgan, Shelton, & Thorogood, 2007). CP has a variety of signs and symptoms that coincide with other neurodegenerative disorders. The clinical signs of cerebral palsy are the following: muscle tone abnormalities, impaired motor coordination and control, dysarthria, and fine motor dysfunction. In some cases these are associated with
Cerebral palsy is a broad term used to describe a group of nonprogressive neurological disorders that impair voluntary movement (NINDS Cerebral Palsy, 2016). It is caused by malformation or damage to the brain during pregnancy or shortly after birth. The exact cause of cerebral palsy is difficult to establish, but often damage to the brain is attributed by prematurity, low birth weight, blood clotting, lack of oxygen, or stroke. Cerebral palsy may affect different areas of the brain causing varying symptoms among individuals; however, cerebral palsy always has some sort of impact on muscle coordination and movement (What is Cerebral Palsy?, 2015).
Spasticity is described as an abnormal muscle tone that is velocity-dependent, and it is usually correlated with an upper motor neuron lesion with an association of hyperactive deep tendon reflexes (Nair & Marsden, 2014, p. 1). There are numerous neurologic diseases that exhibit
Some studies in the past have focused on the effect of speed on muscle activations and have reported a direct correlation between the two quantities21-23. It has been shown that an increase in the speed of walking results in an overall increase in muscle activity. However, this relationship does not hold for all ranges of speed and some deviations from it have been observed in lower speeds22. For instance, between 0.28 ms-1 and 0.83 ms-1 some subjects show decrease in the activity of biceps femoris (BF) with an increase in speed. The same phenomenon has been observed in rectus femoris (RF) in the range of 0.06 ms-1 and 0.28 ms-1. It has been suggested that the increase in muscle activity of some muscles at lower speeds is related to maintaining stability in the frontal plain. As the speed decreases the muscle synergies of gait become more similar to synergies in postural control tasks and this might explain the increase in muscle activations. This hypothesis has not been tested experimentally. It is not clear how muscle synergies might change for very slow speeds. This is of special interest since elderly population and patients with pathological gait walk with reduced
The basic gait parameters most frequently used are velocity, step length, and step frequency. Many reports are concerned with pathological gait, but such data must be compared with valid normal reference data to be interpretable. The aim of this study was to compare the participant’s present reference data with basic gait parameters for normal subjects. The experiment involved one voluntary male Exercise and Sport Science student aged 20 with a history of numerous ankle injuries in the last 2 years. The participant weighs 72kg and is 1.76m tall with both legs measuring at 97cm.
Achievement of normal gait patterns and speed is usually the main objective of gait training. Improvement of
Gait speed is suitable for any patient for whom ambulation development is a objective which both comfortable (CGS) and fast gait speed (FGS). Therefore, should be tested comfortable gait speed is also called “habitual gait speed” in some studies have found that the ability in increase/decrease walking speed over or lower down a “comfortable” pace present normal, healthy walking and specify the likely to change to different environments (e.g. crowed hallways, crossing streets). Furthermore, many people with disablement have only one speed for mobility. However, Riley (2001) reports that propulsive alteration to speed changes occur firstly in the hip and secondarily at the ankle. So, in a study of what predicts gait variability in community-dwelling
Spasticity was originally defined by James Lance as “a motor disorder characterized by a velocity dependent increase in muscle tone with exaggerated tendon jerks, resulting from hyperexcitability of the stretch reflex, as one component of the upper motor neuron syndrome” [1, 2]. This symptom usually occurs in patients with acquired brain injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, stroke, and other conditions involving upper motor neuron syndrome [3]. However, the