The effect of sensory integration therapy on body control and balance in children with cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy is the most common condition in the population that needs to receive rehabilitation throughout life. Many different methods are used in the physical therapy and rehabilitation of cerebral palsy. Another new method is sensory integration therapy. In this study, the effectiveness of sensory integration therapy in the development of trunk control and balance was investigated in individuals with diparatic cerebral palsy. Sixty patients with diparatic cerebral palsy were divided into two groups as treatment and control, sensory reintegration with conventional treatment and only conventional treatment was applied to the control group. The study was conducted in Duha Special Education and Rehabilitation Center in Güngören district of İstanbul. Groups receiving two sessions of treatment per week for 2 months were evaluated before and after treatment. Body Control Measurement Scale was used to measure body balance and Berg Balance Scale was used to measure static and dynamic balance. In pre-treatment evaluations, the two groups were similar. At the end of the study, it was observed that there was a significant improvement in both body control (p=0.007) and balance (p=0.001) in the treatment group. While there was no change in body control at the end of the study in the control group (p=0.235), the balance showed a significant improvement (p=0.020). No difference was observed between the two groups in terms of change differences (p>0.05). Consequently, sensory integration therapy, which is added to conventional treatment in children with diparatic CP, is effective in increasing body control. Conventional treatment is effective in improving the balance of children with diparatic CP, and the addition of sensory integration therapy to the treatment did not make an additional contribution to the development of balance. Keywords: Serebral palsy, Sensory integration, Balance