Impact of Somatosensory Intensive Intervention on Motor Performance in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

Impact of Somatosensory Intensive Intervention on Motor Performance of the Upper Limb and Participation in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy: a Feasibility Study

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of an intensive somatosensory intervention in the upper limb of children with hemiparesis regarding structure, function, activity and participation

Hypothesis:

Intensive somatosensory activity based intervention is effective in upper limb and hand ability in children with hemiparesis, specially regarding activity and participation

Feasibility and longitudinal study with blinding of the evaluator and the person analyzing the data. The study have 3 procedures:

1. - Assessment pre-intervention
2. - Intervention: three weeks
3. - Assessment post-intervention

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of unilateral cerebral palsy
• Manual Ability Classification System (MACS): levels I, II y III.
• Gender: male and female
• Age: 6 to 15 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

• Existence of a moderate or severe cognitive impairment, which could interfere with the comprehension of the tester cues
• Botulinum toxic infiltration 4 months before the date of the pre-intervention assessment or during intervention or during the 3 months after the final intervention
• To have suffered any injury such as fractures and/or contusions in the upper limb in the last 12 months
• Orthopedic intervention in the 6 months preceding the study or during the study