Physical Therapy Treatment in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Background: Cerebral palsy is one of the most frequent disorders of the central nervous system. The various methods and techniques used by physical therapists can be very useful in treating children with cerebral palsy. The purpose of this review is to investigate the various techniques and methods used by physical therapists to improve balance, increase muscle strength, acquire and maintain agility, develop good neuromuscular coordination, improve of physical functionality and the best possible independence of children with cerebral palsy.

Methodology: The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) reporting guidelines. A search on Pub med, Google scholar and PEDro for research articles that investigated the effectiveness of various methods/techniques used by physical therapists for the treatment program for children with CP of the last 20 years.

Results: A total of 18 articles were included in this review. The methods investigated were hippotherapy (n=3), Neurodevelopmental therapy (Bobath) (n=3), stretching (n=2), hydrotherapy (n=1), resistance and orthotics (n=3), and the parameters of classical physical therapy (n=4).

Conclusion: From the selected article it appeared that modalities such as Bobath and hippotherapy have beneficial effects on balance, static and motor control and may also have beneficial effects on gait on children with CP. Passive stretching researchers agree that there are no significant changes in reducing spasticity, while they help a lot in gaining greater range of motion as does resistance. Braces presented to be a very important tool in the hands of the physical therapist to avoid various deformities.