The assessment of children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy by using anthropometric measurements

SUMMARYCerebral palsy is a neuro-developmental disorder resulting from non-progressive injuryof immature brain tissue. Permanent and changeable movement disorders and impairment ofposture are also seen in cerebral palsy. Brain lesion results in impairment of voluntary motoractivity and sensory functions. Problems arise in tonus and coordination of muscles and intime secondary musculoskeletal deficits develop. There is marked hemiplegia or hemiparesisinvolving right or left side of the body in hemiplegic cerebral palsy. The degree of thefunctional impairment of the opposite side vary and usually the opposite side is notcompletely normal.Anthropometry is a method which classifies objective characteristics of the humanbody in all age groups according to its dimensions and structural properties by using certainmeasuring methods and principles and expresses the results quantitatively. It sets thestandards of the body by examining its certain characteristics and demonstrates thedifferences between individuals and groups.Our aim in this study was to make the anthropometric measurements of the childrenwith hemiplegic cerebral palsy in order to investigate the effect of cerebral palsy on thephysical development of children and thus to discover the developmental differences betweenthe healthy side and the plegic side and to compare them with the anthropometricmeasurements of the normal children. We made the anthropometric measurements of theplegic side and the healthy side of the children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy and of thenormal children in the same age group. We observed that the anthropometric values of theplegic side are lower than those of the healthy side in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsyand the anthropometric values of both the plegic and healthy sides in children with hemiplegiccerebral palsy are lower than those of the normal children.Key words: Hemiplegic cerebral palsy, anthropometry.