engleski

Selected Abstracts of the 8th International Congress on Cerebral Palsy. An open-minded approach to therapeutic options. 1 – 4 September 2010, Bled, Slovenia ; The Effects of Vibroacoustic Stimulation on Muscle Tone and Gross Motor Performance in Children with Cerebral Palsy

INTRODUCTION: Afferent signals from the muscle's proprioceptors play important role in the control of muscle tone. Different sensory stimuli, as vibroacoustic stimulation, excite muscle's proprioceptors which than send sensorimotor information via spinal cord. In this way peripheral afferent pathways enable the restoration of connections with supraspinal structures and so include mechanism of synaptic inhibition in the control of muscle tone. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effects of vibroacoustic stimulation on the spasticity and motor functions in children with spastic cerebral palsy. The primary objective was to determine whether vibroacoustic stimulation could improve gross motor function in children with cerebral injury. METHODS: Subjects included in this study were 30 children with spastic cerebral palsy aged 4-6 years. Children were randomly assigned to control group (n=15) or to intervention group (n=15). The intervention group was treated with vibroacoustic stimuli in duration of 25 minutes twice a week during 3 months. Control group subjects continued with their usual physical therapy for 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure was the Modified Ashworth scale and the secondary measure was the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-66). The measures were taken prior to randomization and after 12 weeks. DISCUSSION: Treatment with vibroacoustic stimuli provided a significantly greater improvement in both the GMFM and Modified Ashworth scale compared with usual physical therapy. The improvement in motor performance has been seen in the facilitation of rotations, better postural trunk stability and head control and in greater selectivity of movements. CONCLUSION: The result of this study indicated that vibroacoustic stimulation may have positive influence on the spasticity and enhance gross motor performance in children with cerebral injury.

vibroacoustic stimulation; muscle tone; gross motor performance; cerebral palsy

Prvotno je sažetak bio objavljen u Slovenskom časopisu: "Medicinski razgledi, Year 49, Supplement 2. 8th International Congress on Cerebral Palsy: An open-minded approach to therapeutic options, 1-4 September 2010, Bled, Slovenia", no zbog interesa uredništva European Journal of Paediatric Neurology, dio sažetaka je objavljen i u ovom časopisu.