Article

The aim of the study was to investigate coordination of fingertip forces
during an asymmetrical bimanual task in children with unilateral cerebral palsy
(CP). METHOD: Twelve participants (six males, six females; mean age 14y 4mo, SD
3.3y; range 9-20y;) with unilateral CP (eight right-sided, four left-sided) and
15 age-matched typically developing participants (five males, 10 females; mean
age 14y 3mo, SD 2.9y; range 9-18y,) were included. Participants were instructed
to hold custom-made grip devices in each hand and place one device on top of the
other. The grip force and load force were recorded simultaneously in both hands.
RESULTS: Temporal coordination between the two hands was impaired in the
participants with CP (compared with that in typically developing participants),
that is they initiated the task by decreasing grip force in the releasing hand
before increasing the force in the holding hand. The grip force increase in the
holding hand was also smaller in participants with CP (involved hand/non-dominant
hand releasing, p<0.001; non-involved hand/dominant hand releasing, p=0.007),
indicating deficient scaling of force amplitude. The impairment was greater when
participants with CP used their non-involved hand as the holding hand.
INTERPRETATION: Temporal coordination and scaling of fingertip forces were
impaired in both hands in participants with CP. The non-involved hand was
strongly affected by activity in the involved hand, which may explain why
children with unilateral CP prefer to use only one hand during tasks that are
typically performed with both hands.
CI - (c) The Authors. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology (c) 2011 Mac Keith
Press.

Langue : ANGLAIS