Background: Cerebral palsy is the most common pediatric physical disability, with an incidence of 2.0–2.5 cases per 1000 births. Spastic hemiplegia accounts for more than one third of all new cases and the impairments of upper extremities affect the functional independence and quality of life. Methods: Ten children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy were treated by conventional therapy and Hand ar...

The reflex response to stretch has been studied in the upper limb of 20 spastic patients. The amplitude of reflex EMG was found to be closely related to the velocity of stretch. Reflex EMG in biceps and triceps muscles was augmented by increasing the length of the muscle, although minimal inhibition of reflex EMG in biceps was obtained in two patients by extreme stretch. The clasp-knife sensati...

A 17‐year‐old male patient who was diagnosed with spastic cerebral palsy in his childhood came for seeking management of spasticity in his right upper limb. We found that he had typical presentations of MM in his right upper limb. Every time, when he was trying to extend his left wrist and fingers, his right wrist and fingers extended simultaneously. However, active motion of the right wrist an...

Hereditary spastic paraparesis (HSP) or the Strümpell-Lorrain syndrome is the name given to a heterogeneous group of inherited disorders in which the main clinical feature is progressive lower limb spasticity. Before the advent of molecular genetic studies into these disorders, several classifications had been proposed, based on the mode of inheritance, the age of onset of symptoms, and the pre...

BACKGROUND Physical modalities such as vibration has been suggested as possible non-pharmacological way to control spasticity. AIMS The hypotheses tested were: 1) can a selective vibration of the upper limb flexor antagonist, triceps brachii, reduce the spasticity of the flexor biceps brachii muscle; 2) is its association with physiotherapy better than physiotherapy alone in reducing spastici...

Reflex electromyographic (EMG) muscle responses were recorded from abductor pollicis brevis (APB) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles of fifty patients with spastic hemiplegia. Responses in the muscles were evoked during voluntary muscle contraction (about 20% of maximum voluntary effort) by submaximal but suprathreshold electrical stimulation of the median (at the wrist) and common peroneal (at...

Central motor conduction (CMC) studies were carried out in 25 patients with hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). Responses evoked in the lower limbs by transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex were bilaterally absent in 33% of the patients and, when recordable, were delayed in 75% of cases. Responses in the upper limbs were mostly normal except for those from the five members of on...

Objective: The aim of this work was to show the effect of balance training program on improvement of motor control of knee joint, tightness of hamstring, gastrocnemius, gracillis and passive range of knee extension. Methods: Thirty children were enrolled in this study and randomly assigned into two groups of equal number. Both groups had tightness of knee flexors, decreased extension ROM, all o...

BACKGROUND The hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs) are a rare and heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative disorders that are clinically characterised by progressive lower limb spasticity. They are classified as either 'pure' or 'complex' where spastic paraplegia is complicated with additional neurological features. Mutations in the spastin gene (SPAST) are the most common cause of HSP and ty...