Dual Task Training in Spastic Cerebral Palsy

March 10, 2025 updated by: Riphah International University

Effects of Dual Task Training on Balance and Gait in Children With Spastic Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy(CP) is a non-progressive disorder, undergoing mishap to the developing brain and it affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture. Old name of CP is "Little's disease". In Spastic diplegic, muscle stiffness is mainly in the legs, with the arms less affected or not affected at all. There could be secondary musculoskeletal problems due to muscle weakness resulting from poor alignment, limited range of motion, and asymmetrical posture. These deformities are negatively affected by biomechanical movements and can affect balance and gait functions. The main goal of rehabilitation in children with cerebral palsy is to restore independent walking. However, children with cerebral palsy have limited mobility, which leads to gait disorders (short steps, slow walking speed, increased swing phase and postural instability). Therefore, it is important to choose an effective training method to improve the balance and gait of children with cerebral palsy. Walking training can help improve muscle tone, postural control and gait function as well as improve muscle strength, endurance, and coordination of the lower extremities. A growing body of evidence supports implementing dual-task gait training for enhancing functional mobility and cognitive performance. This will be a randomized controlled trial, data will be collected from Rising Sun Institute, Mughalpura campus. A study will be conducted on 32 patients. Inclusion criteria of this study is spastic diplegic CP children with age between 6 to 12 years, with GMFCS level 1 to 3 and those who can walk 50 m without mechanical walking aids and maintain standing for more than 5 seconds without falling will be included. Exclusion criteria of this study is low intellectual ability (IQ < 80) and behavioral symptoms which might affect participation in the protocol, none of the children had surgery or botulinum toxin injections during the year prior to the assessment. Group1 will receive conventional therapy for 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week for 8 weeks. And group 2 will receive conventional therapy with dual-task training for 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week for 8 weeks. For the pre- and post-evaluation of all participants Berg balance scale and Gait outcome assessment list-(GOAL) will be used. Data will be analyzed through SPSS version 23.00.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

32

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Pakistan
    • Punjab
      • Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
        • Imran Amjad

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Participant's age will be between 6-12 years.
  • Patient should be diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.
  • GMFCS I-III

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Low intellectual ability (IQ < 80) and behavioral symptoms which might affect participation in the protocol.
  • If patient had any progressive neurological disorder disease.
  • If he/she had surgery or botulinum toxin injections during the year prior to the assessment will also be excluded

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: conventional therapy
This group will only receive conventional physical therapy.
Other: conventional therapy
The control group embarked on a conventional therapy regimen designed for patients with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. This group will do 10reps of ROM exercises, 3 times stretching 30sec hold with 10sec rest and 5reps of strengthening exercises, standing , weight on one leg and raising the other leg to the side or behind, putting heel in front of your toe i.e., tandem stance, standing up and sitting down from a chair without using hands, walking while alternating knee lifts with each step.This group will do conventional therapy for 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week for 8 weeks
Experimental: Dual Task Training with Conventional Therapy
This group will only receive Dual Task Training along conventional therapy
Other: conventional therapy
The control group embarked on a conventional therapy regimen designed for patients with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. This group will do 10reps of ROM exercises, 3 times stretching 30sec hold with 10sec rest and 5reps of strengthening exercises, standing , weight on one leg and raising the other leg to the side or behind, putting heel in front of your toe i.e., tandem stance, standing up and sitting down from a chair without using hands, walking while alternating knee lifts with each step.This group will do conventional therapy for 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week for 8 weeks
Other: Dual Task Training
Warming up exercise Supine Trunk and lower extremity ROM exercise Main exercise Sitting Base of support: balance cushion, ball Program: perform cognition task while maintaining balance (writing, drawing, puzzle etc.) Bench sitting (half ring P.) Base of support: balance pad Program: perform fine motor activities while maintaining balance (blocks assembly, scissoring, origami etc.) Standing Base of support: balance pad, balance cushion Program: perform eating while maintaining balance (drinking water, eat a snack etc.) Cool down exercise Supine Low extremity stretching & deep breathing

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pediatric Balance Scale
Time Frame: baseline and 8 weeks
The (PBS) pediatric balance scale, a modification of the Berg Balance Scale, was developed as a balance measure for school-age children with mild-to-moderate motor impairments. It gives good test-retest and interrater reliability when used, ranged from 0.87 to 1.0
baseline and 8 weeks
Gait Outcome Assessment List-(GOAL)
Time Frame: baseline and 8 weeks
Gait Outcome Assessment List-(GOAL) is a valid assessment of gait function in ambulant children with CP. It has the potential to improve understanding of the child's and parents' priorities and thus, in conjunction with IGA, provide a more balanced assessment across the domains of theorld Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. It is a valid and reliable tool. It has a reliability of 0.92 and validity of 0.90
baseline and 8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Riphah International University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Tayyaba Khalid, MS*, Riphah International University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 15, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 5, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

August 15, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 6, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 6, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

May 9, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 10, 2025

Last Verified

March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • REC/RCR&AHS/23/0774

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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