Effect of Electrical Stimulation With Functional Task Training on Balance and Motor Abilities in Children With Diplegia

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of permanent disorders of movement and posture. It is non-progressive lesion or abnormality of immature brain. The term cerebral refers to the brain and palsy refers to the loss or impairment of motor function.

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a subtype of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) in which the stimulation assists functional and purposeful movements. This is achieved by applying electrical stimulation to muscles that, when they contract, produce a movement that can be used functionally.The FES is used to provide electrical stimulation via the peripheral nervous system to activate muscle contractions to assist functional activities when nervous or musculo-skeletal systems are damaged.The common applications of FES include strengthening muscle, reducing muscle spasticity, increasing range of motion, improving upper extremity function and walking speed.

Inclusion criteria

• Their ages will range from 7-11 years.
• Both genders will be included.
• Their degree of spasticity will range from 1 to 1+ according to Modified Ashworth Scale (Meseguer-Henarejos et al., 2018).
• Their motor function will be at level I & II according to Gross Motor Function --- -Classification system (Palisano et al., 2008).
• They will be understanding instructions.

Exclusion criteria

• Children will be excluded from the study if they have any of the following criteria:

Musculoskeletal fixed deformities in upper limb, lower limb or spine.

• Visual or hearing problems.
• Epilepsy.
• Botulinium toxin therapy or orthopedic surgery within the past 6months or within the study period.