Whole Body Vibration for Dystonia Cerebral Palsy

Health bones allow us to move and walk freely without pain. Physical activities have been shown to relate to healthy bone growth. Children with physical disabilities are not able to do the same amount of exercises as their healthy peers. They are vulnerable to poor bone health, bone pain, and at high risk of osteopenia or even broken bones. This problem will extend to their adulthood. Recently, whole body vibration therapy (WBVT) has been proven to improve bone health and muscle function in healthy adults and post-menopausal women. Promising results have been shown on gross motor skills, balance and muscle strength for children and young adults with mild cerebral palsy (CP). Most of the vibration protocols require the participants perform some simple exercises on the vibration platform. Very limited studies have been done on children and young adults with moderate CP and almost none solely on individuals with dystonia CP. We do not know if the effect of the WBVT on individuals with dystonia CP would be the same as those with spastic CP and on those with moderate CP as those with mild CP. We also do not know if static standing on the vibration platform would have similar effects on tone abnormalities, balance and gross motor skills as doing simple exercises on the vibration platform because children and young adults with dystonia CP may not be able to freely do simple exercises on the vibration platform without extra support. The present pilot study is to systematically investigate the effects of WBVT on tone abnormalities, balance and functional abilities in children and young adults with dystonia CP.