Characteristics of selective motor control of the lower extremity in adults with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy.
Takahito Inoue, Yuichiro Yokoi
PMID 32425353WHAT IT FOUND
In 11 adults with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy, lower limb movement control was worse at the ankle, subtalar joint, and toes than at hips and knees.
Control scores related to overall mobility level, but not to stiffness or joint range.
Key findings
01Selective motor control was more impaired at the ankle, subtalar joint, and toes than at the hip and knee.
02Selective motor control scores were inversely related to GMFCS mobility level, with correlations of -0.81 on the left and -0.79 on the right.
03Range of motion and spasticity were not significantly correlated with selective motor control or GMFCS level in this sample.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 11 adults were studied, and the paper reports 11 participants but also lists 9 males and 3 females, so the participant count is unclear. The sample was small and included only one participant at GMFCS level I, so it may not represent adults with CP across all mobility levels. The study was cross-sectional and included only adults, so it cannot show how selective motor control changes with age. Adults were assessed using the GMFCS 12-18 year age band, which may not fully describe adult function. The study excluded people with recent lower-limb surgery or botulinum toxin injections, so it may not apply to those groups. It included only bilateral spastic CP, so findings may not apply to other CP types.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest, and the work did not receive a specific grant from public, commercial, or not-for-profit funders.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that treating selective motor control will improve mobility in adults with cerebral palsy. This small cross-sectional study found relationships at one time point, not effects of a treatment.