engleski

Vibrotactile Stimulation in the Control of Muscle Tone in Children With Spastic Cerebral Palsy

Afferent signals from the muscle’s proprioceptors play an important role in the control of muscle tone. Vibrotactile stimulation excite muscle’s proprioceptors which than send sensorimotor information to brain. In this way peripheral afferent pathways enable the restoration of connections with supraspinal structures and include mechanism of synaptic inhibition in the control of muscle tone. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effects of vibrotactile stimulation on spasticity in children with spastic cerebral palsy. The primary objective was to determine whether vibrotactile stimulation could improve gross motor functions. Subjects included in this study were 30 children with spastic cerebral palsy aged 4-6 years. Children were randomly assigned to control group (n=15) or to intervention group (n=15). Intervention group was treated with vibrotactile stimuli in duration of 25 minutes twice a week during 3 months. Control group subjects continued with their usual physical therapy for 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure was the Modified Ashworth scale and the secondary measure was the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-66). The measures were taken prior to randomization and after 12 weeks. Treatment with vibrotactile stimuli provided a significantly greater improvement in both the GMFM and Modified Ashworth scale compared with usual physical therapy. The improvement in motor performance has been seen in the facilitation of rotations, better postural trunk stability and head control and in greater selectivity of movements. The result of study indicated that vibrotactile stimulation may have positive influence on spasticity and enhance gross motor performance in children with cerebral injury.

vibrotactile stimulation; muscle tone; spastic cerebral palsy

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