EXERCISE-RELATED CHANGES OF THE PHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS IN CHILDREN WITH DIFFERENT FORMS OF SPASTIC CEREBRAL PALSY

Abstract

Objective: To assess the indicators of the cardiovascular system (CVS) affected by exercise in children with various forms of cerebral palsy (CP). Methods: Total of 24 children aged 12-14 years with spastic type of CP were enrolled in the study. They were divided into two groups. Group I included children with spastic diplegia (mean age 13.3±1.2 years), group II – with spastic double hemiplegia (mean age 13.8±0.9 years). For evaluation of the CVS functional condition, the heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), pulse pressure (PP), stroke volume (SV), quality and type of CVS response to physical activity (Letunov’s test) were assessed. A modified Martine-Kushelevsky test was used as an exercise test. Results: All children revealed hypertensive type of CVS response to the Martine-Kushelevsky test. Our investigation showed that for both groups of children HR, BP, PP, and SV did not significantly change after the exercise, while the indicator of the type of CVS response to physical activity (Letunov’s test) was significantly reduced in group II (0.125± 0.008 mm Hg/bpm), compared to the group I (0.135± 0.009 mm Hg/bpm) (р<0.05). Conclusion: Children with both spastic double hemiplegia and spastic diplegia showed hypertensive type of CVS response to the Martine-Kushelevsky test. The study showed the importance of evaluation of the CVS reactivity to the exercise for the development of individual rehabilitation programs for children with CP.

Keywords

• cerebral palsy
• cardiovascular system
• type of cvs response to physical activity
• martine-kushelevsky test.