Muscle Strengthening in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Muscle strengthening as a therapeutic technique for cerebral palsy is controversial. Many therapists have been trained to avoid muscle strengthening in children with cerebral palsy because of the belief that overflow to the antagonist muscle might increase muscle tone or spasticity and therefore increase abnormal movement. Recently some clinicians have become interested in resisted exercise as a treatment for children with cerebral palsy. This review summarizes the few published studies relating to progressive resistive exercise in children and young adults with cerebral palsy. The results of these studies indicate that resistive exercise increased strength in individuals with mild cerebral palsy and none of the studies showed any deleterious effects on level of spasticity or range of motion. Some studies showing that strength measurement instruments can be reliable under certain conditions are also reviewed.