Lower extremity proprioception and its association with activity and participation in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy

Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to assess lower extremity proprioception and investigate its rela-tionship to activity and participation levels in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy (USCP).Methods: A total of 22 children with USCP between the ages of 5 and 16 years participated in this study. Lower extremity proprioception was evaluated with a protocol that consisted of verbal and location identifi-cation, unilateral and contralateral limb matching, and static and dynamic balance tests performed with the impaired and less impaired lower extremities under eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. Furthermore, the Functional Independence Measure (WeeFIM) and Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument (PODCI) were used to evaluate the independence levels in daily living activities and participation levels.Results: Children demonstrated proprioceptive loss, as evidenced by an increase in matching errors under the eyes-closed condition compared to the eyes-open condition (p<0.05). Also, the impaired extremity had greater proprioceptive loss than the less impaired extremity (p<0.05). The 5-6-year age group experienced greater proprioceptive deficits than did the 7-11 and 12-16 age groups (p<0.05). Children's lower extremity proprioceptive deficit was moderately associated with their activity and participation levels (p<0.05).Conclusions: Our findings suggest that treatment programs based on comprehensive assessments, including proprioception, may be more effective in these children.(c) 2023 French Society of Pediatrics. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.