The assessment of functional mobility performance in ambulant children with spastic cerebral palsy with different body mass index

Cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the most common causes of disability in childhood and is characterized by muscle tone disorders, postural deviations, and inadequacy in movements. The mobility can be affected by many factors in children with CP. Excessive or inadequate Body Mass Index (BMI) might affect the child's ability to perform physical activities negatively. Therefore, the aim of our study is to evaluate the functional mobility performances in children with spastic CP who are at the same functional motor level, walk independently and have different BMI. Sixty-four children with spastic CP with levels of GMFCS I and II were allocated into three groups as thin, normal and overweight according to the children's BMI, and the lower extremity motor performance tests (1-minute walking, timed up and go, timed stair climbing and, walking speed) and independence index (Pediatric Functional Independence Measure-WeeFim) were compared. When, the performance scores were compared, overweight children showed lower performance in all tests compared to normal children and had deficient performance in all tests except the timed stair climbing test compared to thin children (p<0,05). There were no differences in performance between thin and normal subjects (p>0,05). There was a negative correlation between walking speed and BMI (p<0,05). There was no correlation between BMI and independence index (p>0,05). According to our results, we think that while planning physiotherapy and rehabilitation programs to improve motor performance in children with CP, considering BMI is necessary for more effective results to increase the level of activity.