Load Experienced While Using a Stander in Children With Cerebral Palsy

Gillette Children's

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cerebral Palsy

Treatments: Other: Assisted Standing Treatment Program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01952496

1308M40341 (Other Identifier)

15994

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this project is to design and validate a force-measuring platform that will measure the magnitude and duration of the load experienced by the lower extremities of individuals with a neuromuscular disability who use a stationary assisted standing device to increase their Bone Mineral Density.

Full description

Non-ambulatory children with a neuromuscular disability are at significant risk for poor bone health as reflected by low bone mineral density (BMD) and increased propensity to fracture. In large part, this is due to abnormally low levels of load experienced by the skeleton. A common approach for increasing BMD is to stimulate the musculoskeletal system by increasing the amount and duration of weight-bearing in the lower extremities. For non-ambulatory individuals, this typically takes the form of using an assisted standing device to enable the child to spend time in a standing position so that their lower limbs can experience some degree of body weight. Some of these physical interventions result in varying degrees of improvement in BMD, and some do not. This lack of clarity in outcomes may result from a failure to objectively measure the magnitude and duration of the load experienced by the lower extremities. A lack of change in BMD may be due to the extremities experiencing only a fraction of the body weight due to load-sharing with the assistive device, or to an inadequate duration of standing time. The goal of this project will be to design and validate a force-measuring platform that will measure the magnitude and duration of the load experienced by the lower extremities of individuals with a neuromuscular disability who use a stationary assisted standing device to increase their BMD.

Enrollment: 3 patients

Sex: All

Ages: Under 17 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. < 18 years old
2. Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP)
3. Treated at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare
4. Gross Motor Function Classification System level of IV or V (non-ambulatory without assistance)
5. Participating in a standing program using a stationary assisted standing device
6. Parent/Guardian willing and able to give consent

Exclusion criteria

None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

3 participants in 1 patient group

Force-measuring platform

Other group

Description:

A force-measure platform will be placed under each foot of the subject to record the time course of load borne by each of the lower extremities during weight-bearing training in an assisted standing device. Intervention: Assisted Standing Treatment Program. Assisted standing treatment program will include at least 2 hours a day, 5 days a week (a total of at least 10 hours a week) for a period of ~9 months.

Treatment:

Other: Assisted Standing Treatment Program