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Twenty weeks of home-based interactive training of children with cerebral palsy improves functional abilities
Jakob Lorentzen1,2, Line Z Greve3, Mette Kliim-Due4
1The Helene Elsass Center, Holmegårdsvej 28, 2900, Charlottenlund (Copenhagen), Denmark. jlo@elsasscenter.dk.
Insights
Interactive home-based training significantly improved daily activities and limb function in children with cerebral palsy (CP). These gains were maintained 12 weeks post-intervention, highlighting the effectiveness of internet-delivered therapy for CP management.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Rehabilitation
- Neurology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Growing demand on public health systems necessitates effective home-based interventions.
- Investigated the efficacy of internet-delivered, individualized, supervised interactive home-based training for children with cerebral palsy (CP).
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if interactive home-based training improves functional abilities in children with CP.
- To assess the long-term maintenance of functional improvements.
Main Methods:
- A non-randomized controlled study included 34 children with CP (aged 9-16, GMFCS I-II, MACS I-II).
- The intervention group (12 children) underwent 30 minutes of daily internet-delivered training for 20 weeks.
- A control group (12 children) had measurements taken at 20-week intervals without training.
Main Results:
- The training group showed significant improvements in daily activities (AMPS) and upper limb function (AHA) after 20 weeks.
- Functional lower limb tests (sit to stand, lateral step up, half knee to standing) also improved significantly.
- Improvements were maintained at 12 weeks post-training; balance function did not show significant improvement. The control group showed no changes.
Conclusions:
- Internet-delivered interactive home training is an effective method for improving motor function and daily activity performance in children with CP.
- This approach facilitates functional gains and increased participation in daily activities for children with CP.
Background:
Home-based training is becoming ever more important with increasing demands on the public health systems. We investigated whether individualized and supervised interactive home-based training delivered through the internet improves functional abilities in children with cerebral palsy (CP).
Methods:
Thirty four children with CP (aged 9-16; mean age 10.9 ± 2.4 years) (GMFCS I-II; MACS I-II) were included in this non-randomized controlled clinical training study. 12 children (aged 7-16; mean age: 11.3+/-0.9 years) were allocated to a control group in which measurements were performed with 20 weeks interval without any intervening training. Daily activities, functional abilities of upper- and lower limbs, and balance were evaluated before, immediately after training and 12 weeks after training. The training consisted of 30 min daily home-based training for 20 weeks delivered through the internet.
Results:
The training group on average completed 17 min daily training for the 20 week period (total of 40 h of training). The training group showed significant improvements of daily activities (AMPS), upper limb function (AHA) and functional tests of lower limbs (sit to stand, lateral step up, half knee to standing) after 20 weeks of training. No difference was found between the test after 20 weeks of training and the test 12 weeks after training. No significance was reached for balance after training. No difference was found for any parameter for the control group.
Conclusions:
Interactive home training of children with CP is an efficient way to deliver training, which can enable functional motor improvements and increased activity to perform daily activities.
Trial Registration:
ISRCTN13188513 . Date of registration: 04/12/2014.
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