Affiliations: [a] Rehabilitation Sciences Post-Graduation Program, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil | [b] Santa Casa Hospital, Porto Alegre, Brazil | [c] Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil | [d] Department of Physiotherapy, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Tatiane Paludo, Post-Graduation Program in Rehabilitation Sciences, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, 245 Sarmento Leite Street, Porto Alegre, 90050-170, Brazil. Tel.: +55 51 3303 8700; E-mail: tatiane.paludo@yahoo.com.br.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: In the motor rehabilitation of individuals with neurological disorders, including cerebral palsy (CP), Neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT) one of the most used approaches worldwide. OBJECTIVE: To verify muscle activation in NDT handling in individuals with severe CP using electromyography. METHODS: This was a controlled, cross-sectional, quantitative clinical trial. The individuals were evaluated using electromyography to analyze the muscular activation of the spinal erector, gluteus medius, rectus abdominis and multifidus during different NDT handling. We evaluated 59 individuals: 39 with spastic quadriparesis CP (Gross Motor Function Classification System, level IV–V) and 20 typically-developing individuals (control group). These groups were homogeneous with respect to age and gender. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in muscle activation of the spinal erector, gluteus medius, rectus abdominis and multifidus in the six NDT handling used in this study: side-sitting for kneeling; supine for lateral decubitus, prone position for lateral decubitus, “sitting on horseback”, sitting on the roll, and proprioceptive stimulation sitting on the ball. CONCLUSION: The results show that all NDT handling analyzed in this study were effective for muscle activation of the spinal erector, gluteus medius, rectus abdominis and multifidus in individuals with severe spastic quadriparetic CP.
