Relationship between postural alignment and motor performance in children with cerebral palsy

Abstract

The purpose was to search for a correlation between postural alignment and motor performance of children with cerebral palsy (CP), and to compare them to typical development children. Twenty of these, aged 4 to 8 years old, formed the control group (CG); and 14 children with CP, aged 4 to 12 years old, were divided into two subgroups (level III, and levels IV and V) according to their classification by the Gross Motor Function Classification System. Cervical lordosis and thoracic kyphosis angles in sitting posture were assessed by photometry; motor performance was assessed at dimensions B (sitting) and D (standing) of the Gross motor function measure (GMFM). PC level III subgroup had higher GMFM scores than levels IV and V subgroup, with significant differences at the B (p=0.00) and D (p=0.016) dimensions. As to posture alignment, significantly lesser cervical lordosis angles were found at both PC subgroups when compared to control group; both subgroups also showed lesser thoracic kyphosis angles; significant differences were found when comparing CP levels IV and V subgroup both to level III subgroup and to CG. Also found was a positive correlation between motor performance and posture alignment in children with CP (r=0.748), showing that the better the postural alignment, the better the motor performance in these children.