The Impact of Whole Body Vibration on Muscle Tone, and Sensory Motor Function in Children with Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy.

PURPOSE

Children with diplegic cerebral palsy (CP) have limited muscle tone, function, and sensorimotor function. Whole-body vibration (WBV) has been suggested to enhance muscle tone and function in diplegic CP. However, there were limited studies involving the effect of WBV on the tone and function of diplegic CP; we aimed to investigate the effect of WBV on muscle tone, function, and sensorimotor function in children with CP.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This is a single-blind randomized controlled clinical trial involving 54 spastic diplegic CP child recruited from local rehabilitation centers in the Ha'il region of Saudi Arabia, they were randomly divided into the WBV group (n = 28 with mean age of 9.47±1.92), which received standard physical therapy and WBV therapy, and the control group (n = 26 with mean age of 9.73±1.62) they received standard physical therapy three time per week for four weeks; Muscle tone, function, strength and Sensory motor integration were evaluated pre and post interventions.

RESULTS

At baseline, the two groups had no significant differences. After treatment, the measured outcomes (function, muscle strength, and sensory motor integration) showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). However, muscle tone was not substantially improved (p = 0.10). In addition, within-group comparisons demonstrated substantial effects (p < 0.05) except Spasticity, Function, and trace assessment of the control group, where the p-values were(0.33, 0.06, and 0.54, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

According to the findings in this study, both conventional physical therapy and WBV are beneficial in treating spastic diplegia.