Effect of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation Combined with Cryotherapy on Spasticity and Hand Function in Patients with Spastic Cerebral Palsy

Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of Neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with Cryotherapy on spasticity and hand function in patients with spastic Cerebral Palsy. Children with CP often demonstrate poor hand function due to spasticity in wrist and finger flexors.

Methodology: This was an experimental study of 30 spastic CP patients aged 5-15 yr with mild to moderate spasticity. All the subjects were divided into two groups (A & B) with equal subject number in each group. Group A were treated with passive stretching, cryotherapy followed by Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) and Group B treated with passive stretching and cryotherapy, 3 times a week on alternate days for 6 weeks. Spasticity and hand function were assessed pretreatment and post treatment using the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Manual Ability Classification System (MACS). We tried to find out the additional effect of NMES on spastic CP patients.

Results: Showed that both the group improved significantly but group A improved much better than group B.

Conclusions: This study suggests that NMES combined with cryotherapy is more effective as compared to cryotherapy alone in reducing spasticity and improving hand function in spastic CP patients.