Responsiveness of the Seated Postural & Reaching Control Test in Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Preliminary Study
Victor Santamaria1, Jaya Rachwani2, Madeline Irmen2
1Rehabilitation Sciences Department: Physical Therapy Division, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, USA.
Aims:
To examine the responsiveness of the Seated Postural & Reaching Control (SP&R-co) test in children with cerebral palsy (CP) classified at levels III to V on the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS).
Methods:
Eleven children received a motor learning-based intervention. Expert and blinded raters scored pre- and post-intervention SP&R-co test videos. Responsiveness was measured with paired t-tests, and effect sizes with Cohen's d. Minimum Clinically Important Differences (MCIDs) were estimated for SP&R-co overall and dimension scores.
Results:
The SP&R-co test was responsive to group improvement in sitting-related postural and reaching control (SP&R-co overall = 48.9 points, p < 0.001). It captured increases in the active (change = 2.4 points, p = 0.040), proactive: bimanual (change = 10.5 points, p = 0.001), proactive: unimanual (change = 19.8 points, p < 0.001), and reactive (change = 15.3 points, p = 0.016) dimensions. Most children showed overall score improvements exceeding the MCID value, whereas clinical improvements in dimension scores varied across children with different GMFCS levels.
Conclusions:
This preliminary study shows that the SP&R-co test is responsive to clinical changes in postural and reaching control strategies in children with CP who can follow test directions and are classified as GMFCS levels III-V.
More Related Videos
07:52Evaluating Postural Control and Lower-extremity Muscle Activation in Individuals with Chronic Ankle Instability
Published on: September 18, 2020
07:20Author Spotlight: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Combined with Movement Observation in Cerebral Palsy
Published on: August 9, 2024