Article

This study aimed to investigate the efficiency of FES application on the
abdomen-posterior back muscles in children with CP that were enrolled into
physical therapy and rehabilitation (PTR) program. The study included 55
spastic diplegic children that were hospitalized for rehabilitation. Those with
deformities that could disrupt the balance in sitting and cause problems in
evaluations were excluded. The patients were randomly divided into two equal
groups according to their time of presentation. Thirty-two children completed the
study. The control group received PTR program only for 4 weeks. The children in
the FES group received PTR in addition to electrical stimulation. Electrical
stimulation was applied 5 days a week for 4 weeks to abdomen-posterior back
muscles in 30-minute-long sessions. To evaluate the balance in sitting, sitting
score of gross motor function measurement (GMFM) and to evaluate the trunk
asymmetry in sitting, radiographic measurements were used. Thus, kyphosis, Cobb
and sacral angles were measured. RESULTS: The comparisons of the measurements of
the two groups before and after the treatment showed that the GMFM sitting score
and the sacral angle were statistically significantly increased, and the kyphotic
and Cobb angles were statistically significantly decreased. After the treatment,
both groups demonstrated an increase in the GMFM score, but the increase in the
FES group was statistically significantly higher than that in the control group.
With respect to radiological measurements, the changes observed in both the
kyphotic and Cobb angles after the treatment were statistically significantly
higher in the FES group than in the control group. The rates of the changes in
the sacral angle did not differ among the groups. CONCLUSION: We believe to
provide balance in sitting for children with CP, FES applied on abdomen-back
muscles along with conventional therapy to maintain trunk control is more
effective than conventional therapy alone.

Langue : ANGLAIS