Anticipatory Postural Adjustments in Children with Cerebral Palsy and Children with Typical Development

In Brief Purpose: We sought to examine whether children with cerebral palsy (CP) demonstrate anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) similar to those observed in children with typical development (TD). Methods: A sample of convenience of 14 children, seven with CP and seven with TD, participated in this study. The center of pressure (COP) was calculated from ground reaction force data collected from the AMTI (OR-6) force platform as the child reached forward while standing. Results: Posterior COP shift frequently was observed in both groups of children before arm movement. However, the children with CP showed greater variability and significantly shorter amplitude of the APA COP excursion as compared with those with TD. Conclusions: The control of APAs is problematic for some children with CP and, therefore, intervention designed to facilitate APAs may be beneficial for those children. Children with CP demonstrated greater variability in posterior anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) than did children without CP. The authors suggest control of APAs is problematic for children with CP and intervention focused on APAs may benefit these children.