Asymmetric function of peripheral nerves in children with cerebral palsy

Nerve conduction velocities (NCVs) in both motor and sensory nerves as well as nerve action potentials (NAPs) of sensory nerves were measured bilaterally in 24 children with cerebral palsy. The NAP amplitude and both sensory and motor NCV were on the average higher on the intact or less affected side. The NCV side difference was still present after the temperature asymmetry of the limbs had been taken into account by calculating the temperature-corrected NCV values, and was statistically significant for motor NCV in N. peroneus and for sensory NCV in N. suralis; this could neither be explained on the basis of spasticity nor by the length difference of the extremities. No correlation of NCV asymmetry with the degree of atrophy seemed to exist.