Comparing of Lower Extremity Tactile and Trunk Position Sense in Children with Spastic Cerebral Palsy and Typically Developing Children

Purpose: To determine if there are differences in lower extremity tactile and trunk position sense processing abilities between children with spastic cerebral palsy and typically developing children.Methods: A total of 30 subjects, 15 children with spastic cerebral palsy and 15 typically developing children, aged 5-10 years, were studied.Tactile sense was measured using monofilament on the non-dominant side of a typically developing children and on the hypertonic side of a child with spastic cerebral palsy.Position sense was measured using dual digital inclinometers on the trunk.Each measurement was performed three times and the average tactile value was calculated.Data were analyzed using independent samples t-test to determine group differences.Results: Children with spastic cerebral palsy perceived larger diameter filaments in the lower extremity tactile test than typically developing children and trunk position sense tests showed larger postural reproduction errors, confirming that children with spastic cerebral palsy have deficits in somatosensory processing (p< 0.05). Conclusion:We suggest that to improve the physical functioning of children with spastic cerebral palsy, intervention programs should not only consider motor but also sensory processing abilities.