EFFECT OF HIGH FREQUENCY TENS VERSUS SHAM TENS ON SPASTIC PLANTAR FLEXORS IN CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY

Objective: To evaluate the Effect of high TENS with conventional therapy in comparison to sham TENS with conventional therapy on spasticity of plantar flexors in cerebral palsy children. Design: Experimental trial. Subjects: 34 patients, diagnosed as cerebral palsy were selected and randomly assigned in to two groups experimental group (n=18 ) and control group (n=16). Method: Patients included in both the groups attend regular physiotherapy session. In addition to conventional therapy, patients in experimental group received high TENS (f=100hz, pulse width =0.1ms, intensity-according to individuals sensory threshold) to the spastic plantar flexors for 15 minutes ,once per a day, 6 days in week, for 4 week. In control group everything was same only intensity was not increased. Results: Within group comparison of the variables was done with wilcoxon matched pair test and between group comparisons with mann-whitney U test. Experimental group showed statistically significant improvement in MAS score for plantar flexors at 5%level of significance then control group but not in D and E dimension of GMFM 88 and active ankle dorsiflexion ROM. Conclusion: High TENS along with other conventional therapy is more effective than conventional therapy alone in reduction of spasticity of plantar flexors in cerebral palsy children.