Effects of Intensive versus Non-Intensive Physical Therapy on Children with Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is one of the most common causes of all childhood disorders. There are tone, posture and movements difficulty due to non-progressive damage to the immature brain in CP. The hallmark of CP is a disability in the development of gross motor function (GMF). The influence of gross motor development on fine motor development is more important in early developmental period, specially under three years old and in children with CP. Various therapeutic interventions have been used in the management of GMF development. Among them physical therapy is the most common intervention in CP and is usually a component of mandated programs. Physical therapy means physical stimulations in the form of various therapeutic exercises, touch, massage, limbs and trunk movement, balancing and coordination training, gait and ambulation training, cognitive stimulation as well as speech, language and occupational therapy. Our study focused to see the effect by short term intensive versus non-intensive physical therapy on children GMF development by using gross motor function measure (GMFM) Score sheet, GMFM-88, version 1.0. Study provides the information that physical therapy intervention is effective in GMF development and intensive interventions are more effective in children with spastic CP than non-intensive one. Study also inform that the more early treatment the more effective result.