HABIT training in unilateral spastic cerebral palsy children having mirror movement disorder.

The single-arm feasibility study was planned to evaluate the therapeutic effect of hand arm bimanual intensive training in improving the fine and gross motor functions of hand, and in the reduction of intensity with respect to mirror movement disorder. The sample comprised unilateral spastic cerebral palsy children aged 6-16 years who were having mirror movement disorder and were able to make a gross grip. The hand arm bimanual intensive training was provided to the participants for 6 hours per day for 15 days for a total of 90 hours. Comparison of baseline and post-intervention showed that the functional independence level of children had improved, with improvement in unimanual and bimanual hand performance (p˂0.05). However, there was no improvement seen in the severity of mirror movements (p>0.05). Hence, hand arm bimanual intensive training was found to be effective in increasing the functional independence of cerebral palsy children by improving the hand function, but there was no effect on mirror movement disorder.

Effect of constraint-induced movement therapy in reducing severity of mirror movements in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy.

To determine the effec t of constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT ) in improving hand function and reduction in severity of mirror movements in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy who have mirror movement disorder. Spastic hemiplegic CP children of either gender, aged 6 to 16 years, with mirror movements of grade 1 and 2 who were able to make a gross grip, were included in this single arm feasibility study. CIMT was provided as an intervention to these children for six hours per day for 15 consecutive week days. Woods and Teuber criteria was applied for the assessment of mirror m oveme nt s. Pre - and po stinte rventi on assess ment results showed that there was improvemen t in the unimanual and bimanual hand func tion in CP-affected children (p<0.05) and reduction in the severity of mirror movements ( p<0 .05). Constra intinduced movement therapy improved hand function and reduced the severity of mirror movements in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy.

Frequency of mirror movements and comparison of hand function in spastic cerebral palsy children with and without mirror movements.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the frequency of mirror movements in spastic cerebral palsy children and to compare hand function and functional independence of such children with and without mirror movements. . METHODS: The comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in special education schools of Lahore and Islamabad from August 2017 to January 2018, and comprised children of either gender aged 5-18 years diagnosed with spastic cerebral palsy who were able to make a gross grip. Wood and Teuber criteria for the assessment of mirror movements and Jebsen-Taylor hand function test for hand function assessment were used, while manual ability classification system was used for the assessment of functional independence. Data was analysed using SPSS 21. RESULTS: Of the140 subjects, 113(80.7%) were boys and 27(19.3%) were girls. The overall mean age was 11.17}3.69 years. Of the total, 51(36.4%) subjects had diplegic cerebral palsy, while 50(35.7%) were suffering from mirror movements. There was no difference in the unimanual hand function of children with and without mirror movements (p>0.05). However, children without mirror movements had more functional independence (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Mirror movement was found in one third of the sample, and there was no difference in hand function in children with and without mirror movements.