A Physical Therapy Program Targeting Lower Extremity Selective Motor Control in Children With Spastic Cerebral Palsy (CAMP LEG POWER)

January 7, 2026 updated by: Eileen Fowler, University of California, Los Angeles

Physical Therapy Program for Selective Motor Control

The goal of this intervention study is to learn whether a physical therapy exercise camp called will improve leg movement (motor control) and functional ability in children with spastic CP who are between 5 and 18 years. The main questions the study aims to answer are:

  • Does the ability to move the knee at high velocities improve?
  • Does function such as walking, running, hopping, climbing stairs improve?
  • Will the brain tracts that control movement change?
  • Will children who have better independent control of joint motion improve more?

All participants will:

  • Attend 15 sessions of an exercise camp for 3 hours per day
  • Perform a home exercise program after the camp ends

Measurements:

  • Lower extremity selective motor control
  • Knee muscle strength at high speeds using an exercise machine
  • Gross motor function
  • Gait analysis (walking patterns)
  • Parent's perception of their child's ability and their satisfaction with that ability
  • Change in brain motor tracts using a scanner (MRI) for participants that meet the inclusion criteria for MRI

MRI measurements will be taken twice (before and immediately after the treatment). All other measurements and will be taken 3 times (before, immediately after the treatment and approximately 4 months after the treatment).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

23

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

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095
        • Center for Cerebral Palsy at UCLA/Orthopaedic Institute for Children

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
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • spastic cerebral palsy
  • age between 5-18 years
  • ability to walk at least 10 meters
  • ability to follow simple verbal directions

Exclusion Criteria:

All participants

  • botulinum toxin or serial casting within the preceding 3 months
  • recent orthopedic or neurological surgery within the preceding 12 months
  • uncontrolled seizures

For participants undergoing MRI

  • inability to lie still
  • incompatible metal implants
  • baclofen pumps or shunts

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Participants who have the intervention
physical therapy exercise intervention
Other: Selective movement of individual lower limb joints
Children practices moving the joints of each lower leg independently.
Other: Knee joint strengthening at high velocities
In sitting, the thigh and trunk are secured to a seat and the lower leg to a moving arm that provides resistance at exercise velocities progressing up to a maximum of 300 deg/s.
Other: Ankle controlled gaming
With the child in sitting, the ankle is secured to a moving segment. The child can control games such as tennis by dorsiflexing and plantar flexing their ankle at increasing velocities to meet the demands of the game.
Other: Functional activities based on child and parental goals
The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure is used to identify functional goals. Activities to address these goals are designed by physical therapists and practiced during camp.
Other: Sensori-motor exercises
Walking barefoot over sand and grass. Foot and ankle sensory exploration using materials with various textures.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Gross Motor Function Measure
Time Frame: nine months
Children are asked to perform functional activities including standing, walking, running, balancing and stair climbing. The data are entered into a computer program to create a score ranging from 0-100. A higher score indicates better function.
nine months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Knee joint torque
Time Frame: nine months
Three repetitions of maximum effort knee extension and flexion torque are collected at 0-300 deg/s for the affected lower limbs. Outcomes are the percent of knee joints that can produce measurable torque at each velocity and the peak joint torque that is produced.
nine months
Canadian Occupational Performance Measure
Time Frame: nine months
Parents/caregivers and children choose 5 activities that they would like to see improve as a result of this intervention. The parent or caregiver rates how well their child currently performs that task and how satisfied they are with the performance of the task on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest score.
nine months
Brain MRI - Diffusion tensor imaging
Time Frame: nine months
A brain MRI scan is obtained. Tract based spatial statistics are performed from the scan to look for changes in individual voxels. Higher values for fractional anisotropy are associated with improved tract integrity. Lower values for radial and median diffusivity are associated with improved myelination.
nine months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of California, Los Angeles

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Eileen G Fowler, PhD, PT, University of California, Los Angeles

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 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 7, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

January 7, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 16, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 16, 2025

First Posted (Estimated)

December 30, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 7, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 14-0414

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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