Effective Physical Therapy Methods For Improving Postural Control In Children Diagnosed With Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review.

Sammanfattning: AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate which physical therapy methods are most effective for improving the postural control in children and adolescents diagnosed with CP, in order to provide to physical therapists with new evidence on the topic for integrating them in theirs intervention plans. METHOD: A systematic literature review was conducted in order to collect all the relevant information according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Five databases (PubMed, ProQuest, CINAHL, Web of science and Scopus) were used to identify relevant studies to include in this review. Keywords included “physical therapy”, “postural control”, “cerebral palsy” and their synonyms. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were settled according to the research question. RESULTS: Following the exclusion and inclusion criteria and after the quality assessment of the yielded data 11 articles were included in this review out of 97 of the initial search. PT interventions that were identified in the review included aquatic physical therapy, electrical stimulation therapy, intensive upper- and lower-extremity training (HABIT-ILE), virtual reality therapy and reactive balance exercise and standard PT combined with other methods such as backward walking training, Whole Body Vibration (WBV) training and antigravity treadmill training. CONCLUSION: In order to achieve improvements in postural control that are maintained over a period of time, children with cerebral palsy need to have PT included in their everyday routine and to have consistency in their sessions. All the PT interventions showed some positive effects on PC but, as Cerebral Palsy has many classifications and the effects of it varies for each child the PT method needs to be adjusted  to meet each child´s individual characteristics and disability and also to their environmental needs.