Strength training in adolescent learners with cerebral palsy: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: To evaluate the impact of an eight-week strength training program targeting multiple muscle groups using basic inexpensive free weights and resistance devices, on gait and perceptions of body image and functional competence.Design: A randomized control trial.Setting: A school for children with special needs in a disadvantaged suburb in Cape Town.Subjects: Thirty-one independently ambulant senior learners with spastic cerebral palsy (19 males, 12 females; aged 13-18 years; 15 diplegics and 16 hemiplegics).Intervention: Eight-week strength training programme in circuit format executed during school hours, one to three times per week for 40-60 min per session. Programmes were individually designed and included 8-12 exercises selected from a 28-station circuit to target upper and lower limbs and trunk. Twenty-one subjects took part in the strength training programme and were compared with 10 control subjects.Main outcome measures: Three-dimensional gait analysis and a questionnaire were used to eva...