Effects of Manual Therapy on Joint Angle During Functional Reach Test in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) often have difficulty maintaining balance. In this study, we hypothesize that balance deficits in CP children are due to a lack of appropriate movement of each joint in conjunction. Here we show that manual therapy, a form of rehabilitation delivered by physical therapists, improves locomotor coordination and dynamic balance during reaching movements. We used principal component analysis to evaluate the effects of manual therapy on locomotor coordination during reaching movements. The results showed that manual therapy can effectively improve dynamic balance in CP children by optimizing the knee and ankle joints in their reaching movement strategies, resulting in improved motor coordination between the joints. This study demonstrates the mechanism by which rehabilitation for CP is effective for balance ability.