Passive leg motion changes in cerebral palsied children after whole body vertical acceleration

Reports on a pilot study designed to quantify changes in spasticity in children with spastic cerebral palsy following whole body vertical accelerations. Ten subjects, ranging in age from 5 to 18 years, were selected from the Cerebral Palsy Clinic of the Alfred I. duPont Institute. Most of the subjects were independent ambulators, although two used wheelchairs for long distances and one used a wheelchair full time. Passive leg motion changes, as seen in leg drop pendulum tests performed before and after vertical accelerations, are reported here. These changes are based on the comparison of 13 parameters, some of which are derived based on the assumption that normal limbs, when subjected to the leg drop pendulum test, behave as an underdamped second-order system. The vertical acceleration consisted of 15 min of up and down motion on a specially constructed platform capable of rating and lowering both the subject and his or her seating device. Amplitude of oscillation was set at 8.90 cm and the frequency of oscillation was commonly 1.57 Hz. Position of the leg was recorded with an electromagnetic position sensing device. Results of the study showed that 9 of the 10 subjects made a statistically significant improvement in one or more of the 13 attributes, with the highest achiever making improvements in 11 of the 13 attributes. Trends in the data show that the less severely involved clients made the most improvements