Hegazy F.1, Aboelnasr E.2,3
1University of Sharjah, Physiotherapy, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 2Cairo University, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Physical Therapy for Paediatrics, Cairo, Egypt, 3Sharjah Social Affairs, Government of Sharjah, Physiotherapy, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Background: The use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat patients with cerebral palsy is based on the theory that among the damaged brain cells there are inactive cells that have the potential to recover.
Purpose: To investigate the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on modulation of muscle tone, the gross manual dexterity and inspiratory capacity in spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsied children.
Methods: Forty children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy ranged in age from 4 to 7 years participated in the study. The sample was divided into two equal groups (control and study groups). The control group was treated by a specially designed physical therapy program. The study group received hyperbaric oxygen therapy consisted of 100% oxygen at a pressure of 1.75 (ATA) for 60 minutes. A complete intervention comprised 60 sessions: once per day, 5 days per week, for 12 weeks in addition to the same designed physical therapy program. Evaluation was carried out for each child in both groups before intervention and after three months of intervention. The H/M ratio was measured by electromyography, the gross manual dexterity of the affected upper extremity was measured by the use of the Box and Block Test and the inspiratory capacity was measured by incentive spirometer.
Results: There was a significant reduction of spasticity and improvement of the gross manual dexterity of the affected upper extremity and the inspiratory capacity for both study and control groups after the treatment (p 0.05). However, when comparing the results of study and control groups, there were non-significant differences in either reduction of spasticity, improvement of the gross manual dexterity or the inspiratory capacity. These non-significant differences may be attributed to the low numbers of hyperbaric oxygen therapy sessions.
Conclusion(s): However, the results of the current study show some clinical improvement, but determination of the appropriate amount of time and number of treatment sessions to cause significant functional improvement requires further researches with large samples, different number of treatment sessions and controlled randomization.
Implications: Clinical Findings from this study support the idea of using hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a potential intervention for cerebral palsy especially if added to an intensive rehabilitation program with recommendation for further researches.
Funding acknowledgements: NA
Topic: Paediatrics
Ethics approval: this study is approved by the Research Ethical committee, Faculty of physical Therapy, Cairo University in Sept. 2012.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
