Effect of Core Stability Training on Standing and Genu Recurvatum in Children with Spastic Diplegia

Abstract

Background: Trunk muscles provide the fundamental support for limb movement. They are also necessary for preserving the body's alignment, spinal stability, and carrying out functional activities while standing or sitting.

Purpose: To investigate the impact of core stabilization exercises on standing function and genu recurvatum in spastic diplegic Cerebral palsy (CP) children.

Subjects and methods: Forty diplegic cerebral palsy children, of both genders with ages ranged between 4 to 7 years old were assigned  randomly into two groups of equal numbers; control and study groups, each group consisted of 20 children. Children were evaluated  with Kinovea software and GMFM-88 before and after 3 months of treatment. The control group underwent a designed physiotherapy  program 3 times per week (1 hour per session) while the study group received core stability exercises in addition to the designed  program of the control group.

Results: There was significant improvement in GMFM in favor to the study group (p = 0.02) but there was  no significant difference between both groups regarding knee angle after treatment (p = 0.5).

Conclusion: For children with spastic  diplegic CP, core stability exercises may be a useful strategy to enhance standing function. Physical therapy intervention was found to be  beneficial for knee hyper-extension angle.