Background:

Cerebral palsy is a permanent damage in early brain in fetus which leads to movement disorder. The most frequent reason of bodily incapacity is cerebral palsy in pediatric population. CP children have difficulty maintaining dynamic and static trunk stability, which leads to affect sitting, standing, reaching and walking. Hemiplegic Cerebral palsy patients are challenged by fine motor skills, like gripping or object handling, which are essential for activities of daily life.

Objective:

To determine the effects of trunk stability exercises on hand function in children with cerebral palsy.

Methods:

It was a randomized, clinical trial, conducted among hemiplegic CP patients. Sample size was 26 by using Epitool software. Subjects were randomly allocated to the intervention or control group after a baseline evaluation with a lottery ticket and an opaque envelope. All patients in both groups were assessed on three occasions: (i) baseline (ii) post treatment and (iii) after 4 weeks follow up to assess long term effects. The pre and post assessment was performed after 8 weeks of treatment respectively and long-term assessment was performed after 4 weeks follow with TCMS, CHEQ and ABILHAND-kids measurement scale. Each session of 45 min core stability exercises was performed on subjective sample.

Results:

There were statistically significant differences observed for TCMS, CHEQ and ABILHAND-kids measurement scale. (p < 0.05) between control and intervention group.There were statistically significant changes (p < 0.05) observed in symptoms of with TCMS, CHEQ and ABILHAND-kids measurement scale in both groups.

Conclusion:

Recent study concluded that core stability exercises are beneficial for children with hemiplegic CP in improving their hand abilities. Trunk stability exercises are effective treatment for improving the hand function and have a positive long-term effect. These results should be applied in clinical practice by physicians and patients to get good results.

Key words: cerebral palsy, gross motor function, hand function, trunk stability.