Differences in seated postural control in children with spastic cerebral palsy and children who are typically developing.

OBJECTIVE

To quantitatively evaluate the difference of posture control in sitting position between children with spastic cerebral palsy and normal subjects.

DESIGN

Twenty children with spastic cerebral palsy who could sit independently and 20 age- and sex-matched normal children were enrolled. The Chatteex Balance System was used to evaluate static and dynamic posture control as the subjects were sitting on a bench. The sway distance in sagittal and lateral directions, sway ratio, and sway index in both the static and dynamic sitting positions were recorded by the Chatteex Balance System.

RESULTS

There was a significantly lower static and dynamic sway ratio and a greater static sway index and dynamic lateral sway distance in the study group. The dynamic sway index in the study group was greater than the index in the control group, although it did not reach statistical significance.

CONCLUSIONS

Children with diplegic cerebral palsy did perform significantly worse in sitting posture control compared with normal subjects of similar chronological age. The sway index and sway ratio proved to be the objective and sensitive indicators that can be used to distinguish children with cerebral palsy from normal peer groups.