Lower extremity proprioception and its association with activity and participation in children with unilateral
Fulya Ipek Erdem1, Mintaze Kerem Gunel2, Ipek Alemdaroglu-Gurbuz2
1Faculty of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey.
Objective:
This cross-sectional study aimed to assess lower extremity proprioception and investigate its relationship to activity and participation levels in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy (USCP).
Methods:
A total of 22 children with USCP between the ages of 5 and 16 years participated in this study. Lower extremity proprioception was evaluated with a protocol that consisted of verbal and location identification, unilateral and contralateral limb matching, and static and dynamic balance tests performed with the impaired and less impaired lower extremities under eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. Furthermore, the Functional Independence Measure (WeeFIM) and Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument (PODCI) were used to evaluate the independence levels in daily living activities and participation levels.
Results:
Children demonstrated proprioceptive loss, as evidenced by an increase in matching errors under the eyes-closed condition compared to the eyes-open condition (p<0.05). Also, the impaired extremity had greater proprioceptive loss than the less impaired extremity (p<0.05). The 5-6-year age group experienced greater proprioceptive deficits than did the 7-11 and 12-16 age groups (p<0.05). Children's lower extremity proprioceptive deficit was moderately associated with their activity and participation levels (p<0.05).
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that treatment programs based on comprehensive assessments, including proprioception, may be more effective in these children.
