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Supra-Postural Task Performance in Children with Cerebral Palsy: The Importance of Functional Context
| Title: | Supra-Postural Task Performance in Children with Cerebral Palsy: The Importance of Functional Context |
| Author: | SCHMIT, JENNIFER MARIE |
| Description: | Postural instability is a classical characteristic of cerebral palsy (CP), but it has not been examined in the during simultaneous supra-postural activity. It is important to study postural control in the context of other behaviors children perform when standing because recent work demonstrates that when motor tasks are made functionally more relevant, performance improves, even in individuals with movement pathology (Volman et al., 2001). If supra-postural tasks provide a functional context for postural control, children with CP might improve postural stability when performing supra-postural tasks. Thirty children with CP participated in this study. Their postural sway was quantified during performance of two different supra-postural manual tasks (a steadiness task involving keeping a pointer inside a target, and a task requiring balancing a marble inside a hollow tube), and compared to a control group (n = 30) of comparably aged, typically developing children. A baseline condition (no supra-postural task) was also included. Traditional measures of postural sway variability and non-linear quantification of patterns in the time-evolution of postural sway were analyzed using analyses of variance and appropriate simple-effects and post-hoc tests. I hypothesized supra-postural task performance would reduce postural sway variability in both typically developing and CP children. I also hypothesized the postural sway of children with CP would exhibit rigid, stereotypical behavior and a decrease in complexity, in accordance with a growing body of research on the loss of behavioral and physiological complexity accompanying dynamical diseases (West, 2006). I furthermore hypothesized that the latter difference would be attenuated during performance of the supra-postural tasks. The outcomes supported the hypotheses. Children with CP demonstrated changes in postural stability consistent with supra-postural task effects. The results were also consistent with the loss of complexity hypothesis, in that CP children demonstrated rigid and stereotypical postural sway patterns. However, their sway patterns became more complex and less predictable during supra-postural task performance, indicating that the functional context provided by the supra-postural task promoted a healthier, more complex sway pattern. These findings illustrate a degree of motor flexibility and adaptability in the postural control system, despite the pathological features associated with CP. |
| Permanent Link: |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1212085865
http://hdl.handle.net/2374.OX/106125 |
| Date: | 2008 |
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