Monitoring of body position and motion in children with severe cerebral palsy for 24 hours.

AbstractPurpose: To investigate differences in position and body movements between children with severe cerebral palsy (CP) and children with typical development (TD) during the daytime and while asleep at night. Method: Fifteen children with severe quadriplegic CP living at home (GMFCS level V, 7 males, 8 females; mean age 8 years 3 months; range 3–20 years) and 15 children with TD (6 males, 9 females; mean age 8 years 7 months; range 1–16 years) participated. Body position and movements were recorded for 24 h by a body position monitor and a physical activity monitor, respectively. The amount of time spent in one position and the durations of inactive periods during the daytime and during night-time sleep were computed and analyzed for group differences. Results: In children with CP, the mean longest time spent in one position was longer than that in children with TD during night-time sleep (5.6 ± 3.5 h versus 1.6 ± 1.2 h). In contrast, no significant differences were found between the groups during the...