Ahmed F Attia¹*, Hala R Elhabashy² and Faten H Abdelaziem³

¹Department of Physical Therapy for Pediatrics, Cairo University, Egypt
²Professor of Clinical Neurophysiology, Cairo University, Egypt
³Professor of Physical Therapy for Pediatrics, Cairo University, Egypt

*Corresponding Author: Ahmed F Attia, Department of Physical Therapy for Pediatrics, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

Received: April 30, 2021; Published: May 28, 2021

Abstract

Background: Children with cerebral palsy suffer from a wide range of complications which may be neurological, muscular or skeletal. Muscle tightness is a common musculoskeletal complication in cerebral palsy. Stretching exercises are one of the used methods to decrease muscle tightness but there is a lack of agreement on the effective time of single stretching session.

Objectives: To compare between 1-minute and 20-minutes stretching of hamstring.

Patients and Methods: This study was conducted on 20 children with diplegic cerebral palsy classified into 2 equal groups (group A and B). The cyclic 1-minute stretch was applied for group A and 20-minutes positional stretch was applied for group B. Their age ranged from 7 to 10 years, their degree of spasticity ranged from 1 to 2 according to modified Ashworth scale with degree of popliteal angle ranged from 30 to 45 degrees and level II or III according to gross motor function classification system. Nexus 10 by (Mind Media) was used as Surface electromyography device to monitor hamstring activity. Popliteal angle was measured by Digital inclinometer.

Result: Motor unit amplitude during stretch of group A increased significantly more than motor unit amplitude of group B (p < 0.001). No difference between motor unit amplitude of group A and motor unit amplitude of group B post stretch (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: The stretching exercise for hamstrings in children with diplegia has no significant effect on decreasing motor unit amplitude and muscle tension after one session of stretching. If we used stretching exercises on daily basis as a method of controlling hamstrings tightness, it is better to use the 20-minutes positional stretch than the cyclic 1-minute stretch.

Keywords: Stretch Time; Hamstrings Stretch; Spasticity; Cerebral Palsy

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Citation

Citation: Ahmed F Attia., et al. “Cyclic 1 Minute Versus 20 Minutes Hamstrings Stretch for Spastic Cerebral Palsy".Acta Scientific Orthopaedics 4.6 (2021): 100-107.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Ahmed F Attia., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.