Effects of Rhythmic Movement Training on the Elbow Spasticity and Proprioception of Female Children With Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

Background and Aims Muscle spasms and proprioceptive dysfunction are common problems in children with cerebral palsy. One of the ways to help these children have an active lifestyle is the use of attractive and rhythmic exercises. This study aims to investigate the effect of rhythmic movement training on the elbow spasticity and proprioception of children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Methods This is a quasi-experimental study with pre-test/post-test design. Participants were 30 girls aged 7-12 years with hemiplegic cerebral palsy in Tehran, Iran, who were selected by a convenience sampling method and were randomly divided into two groups of training and control. Participants in the training group performed rhythmic movements (Step in place, side step, V-step, step in/step out) for 8 weeks, while the control group continued their routine treatment programs. The modified Ashworth scale was used to assess elbow flexor spasticity and a Gyroscope was used to measure children’s elbow joint proprioception. The multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to analyze the data. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results After controlling for the effects of pre-test scores, the results of MANCOVA showed a significant difference between the two groups in at least one of the dependent variables (F=6.50, P=0.002). The results of ANCOVA showed that, after controlling for pre-test scores, there was a significant difference between the two groups in spasticity (F=4.57, P=0.042) and joint proprioception (F=7.71, P=0.01), where the scores were better in the training group. Conclusion Rhythmic movement training can reduce elbow flexor spasticity and improve elbow joint proprioception in female children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Therefore, these exercises can be used along with other rehabilitation protocols to improve elbow joint proprioception and spasticity in female children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.