A Study on Effectiveness of Exercise Program on Improvement of Hand Function Following Wrist Tendon Transfer Surgery for Spastic Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy Children

Background: Cerebral palsy is a group of permanent disorder of the development of movement and posture causing the activity limitation, that are attributed to non-progressive disturbances that occurred in the developing fetal or infant brain. Spasticity, the most common type occurs in about 60% of cases and results from disharmony of muscle groups. Children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy often presents with upper limb imbalances. Majority of children falls in this category. Objective of the study: To evaluate the effectiveness of exercise program on improvement of hand function following wrist tendon transfer surgery for spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy children. Methods: 15 subjects with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy children were randomly allocated. The subjects were undergone Shriners Hospital Upper Extremity Evaluation (SHUEE) preoperatively. After surgical intervention, the same subjects were undergone exercise program and regular follow up. The exercise program was given daily 2 sessions. Treatment duration was 30 minutes. The time intervals between each session were approximately 1 hour. The study duration was 6 months. The post-operative functional outcome of children is based on effects of exercises, hand functional training and evaluated by Shriners Hospital Upper Extremity Evaluation. Results: The study revealed that exercise program is effective on the improvement of hand function for spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy children following wrist tendon transfer surgery among the age group of 9 to 15 years of children. The result showed extremely significant changes in functional outcome p value (0.0005). Conclusions: Systematic exercise program is effective on improvement of hand function following wrist tendon transfer surgery for spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy children.