The relationship of cervical joint position sense with body control and balance in children with cerebral palsy

This study, which was conducted to examine the relationship between cervical joint position sense and trunk control and balance in children with cerebral palsy (CP), was conducted with 33 (13 girls - 20 boys) children with CP (17 diparetic - 16 hemiparetic) with an average age of 11.71±3.84 years. After the sociodemographic information of the cases was obtained in the study, Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) was used to evaluate motor functions, Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS) was used to evaluate balance, Trunk Control Measurement Scale (TCMS) was used to evaluate trunk control and Cervical Range of Motion (CROM) device was used to evaluate cervical joint position sense. Data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 22 program. According to the findings of the study, there was no significant relationship between gender and PBS and TCMS total scores (p>0.05). It was determined that all CROM values did not show a significant difference (p>0.05) according to gender. A significant difference was observed between CP type and PBS (p<0.05). There was no significant relationship between CP type and TCMS total score (p>0.05). There was no significant difference between SP type and all CROM values (p>0.05). It was determined that there was a significant difference between the GMFCS level and the PBS and total TCMS scores (p<0.05). It was observed that there was no significant difference between the GMFCS level and all CROM values (p>0.05). There was no significant relationship between total CROM values and total PBS and TCMS scores (p>0.05). The results of the study showed that there was no relationship between the cervical joint position sense obtained from all movements and balance and trunk control in children with hemiparatic and dipparatic type CP. Since there has been no previous study examining the relationship between CROM and cervical joint position sense and CROM values and balance and trunk control in cases of CP, it was thought that this study would be a guide for future studies.