Quadriceps Strength Training on Gait Parameters and Energy Expenditure in Children With Spastic Cerebral Palsy

The incidence of cerebral palsy is approximately 2 to 3 cases per 1000 live births around the world. In Cerebral palsy the lesion in the central nervous system frequently results in spasticity of various muscle groups. Spasticity is defined as a velocity dependent resistance to stretch. Spastic Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the pyramidal parts of the brain.

The children with spastic CP frequently experience problems with motor control, and balance which may lead to gait abnormalities. Because of motor weakness and poor voluntary motor control the children with spastic cerebral palsy develop crouch gait characterized by excessive hip and knee flexion and a slower walking speed, a shorter stride length, and more time spent in double support. This study will help in the quality of life in spastic cerebral palsy children. This will be a Randomized Controlled Trial. Approval will be gained from the Ethical committee of the Riphah international university Lahore, Pakistan prior to the commencement of study. Written informed consent will be taken from all the patients and all information and data will be confidential. Subjects will be informed that there is no risk of study and they will be free to withdraw any time during process of study. 22 Children with Spastic CP will be randomly distributed into 2 groups. The Control Group (n=10) will be administered with the baseline treatment that Includes 5 minutes of trunk control training, 5 minutes walking in the hall with And without the therapist assistance, walker or crutches, and finally 5 minutes of Breathing exercises for Relaxation 3 sessions per week for 8 weeks. The experimental group (n=10) will be administered with the strength training intervention along with baseline treatment, 3 sessions per week for 8 weeks. Gait parameters will be evaluated physically by measuring stride and step length and cadence.

5-meter stretch test for gait parameters. the energy expenditure will be calculated by measuring the physiological cost index that includes measuring the speed of walking and resulting increase in heart rate. Data will be analyzed by using SPSS version 26.0 and necessary analysis will be done after checking the normality of Data.