Original Article

Effect Of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation On Selective Motor Control Of

Lower Extremity In Children With Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy: An Experimental Pilot
Study
Dr. Gauri Kale*, Dr. Rahul Bisen**, Dr. Parag Ranade***
*MPT Final Year Student, **Associate Professor, ***Professor And HOD, Department Of Neuro Physiotherapy, Smt. Kashibai Navale
College Of Physiotherapy, Pune 411041.
Abstract: Background: Cerebral palsy children have limitations in motor function resulting in diminished
selective motor control. Selective motor control (SMC) is essential for independent control of joint motion.
Impaired SMC is interrelated to neuromuscular deficits in CP. In this study PNF approach was used with
different patterns and techniques which help to evoke motor responses and improve neuromuscular
control and function. Objectives: To assess the effect of PNF along with conventional treatment ,To assess
the effect of Conventional treatment and To compare the effect of PNF along with conventional treatment
and conventional treatment on selective motor control of lower extremity in children with hemiplegic
cerebral palsy. Material and Method: Study included 22 hemiplegic cerebral palsy children which were
divided into two groups. Experimental group received PNF and conventional treatment and control group
received conventional treatment. SMC of lower extremity was assessed using SCALE. Pre and post
treatment scores were measured. Results: There was statistically significant difference noted within group
and between groups on Total SCALE score. Difference was seen greater in experimental group than control
group. Conclusion: This study suggests that PNF have an effect on selective motor control of lower
extremity in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. [Kale G Natl J Integr Res Med, 2021; 12(1):46-51]
Key Words: Hemiplegic cerebral palsy, Proprioceptive Neuromuscular facilitation, Selective motor control,
Lower extremity, SCALE
Abbreviations: Selective motor control (SMC), Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF), Cerebral
Palsy (CP), Selective control assessment of lower extremity (SCALE), Diagonal Pattern (D1 and D2), Gross
motor function classification system (GMFCS), Corticospinal tract (CST).
Author for correspondence: Dr. Gauri Kale, Department of Neuro Physiotherapy, Smt. Kashibai Navale
College of Physiotherapy, Pune – 411041. E-Mail: gaurimkale09@gmail.com
Introduction: CP is caused by an injury to the Reduced SMC caused by flexor or extensor
brain and a poor motor control is hallmark of CP. synergies interfering with isolated joint
Children with cerebral palsy have difficulty in movements impair functional movements such as
movement because of impaired coordination in gait3. SMC is needed to position the limb for
muscle recruitment. Because of which they have weight bearing at the beginning of each step.
problems in isolated muscle actions. Selective
motor control has been defined as ‘the ability to Loss of descending control leads to abnormal
isolate the activation of muscles in a selected input to motor neuron pools in the spinal cord,
pattern in response to demands of a voluntary which may result in failure to develop or maintain
movement or posture‘1. the complex spinal networks involved in muscle
activation patterns of agonists, synergists, and
Alteration in SMC forms an impairment results antagonists4,5,6,7. The SCALE is the most current
from the inability to activate muscles affecting a assessment of SMC. It grades an individual’s
person’s ability to perform functional tasks. SMC ability to perform isolated, voluntary joint
is related to integrity of the corticospinal tract movements. PNF helps in increasing reactions of
(CST), which is damaged in children with CP2. neuromuscular mechanism through stimuli. It is
effective to develop muscular strength, facilitate
Children with cerebral palsy have decreased stability, mobility, neuromuscular control and
strength in lower limb muscles, impaired coordinated movements help for restoration of
coordination and gait and poor motor control. function, regaining motor control and enhance
Studies stated that PNF techniques are effective the muscle strength in paretic limbs of cerebral
in improving muscle strength, posture, trunk palsy subjects8,9,10.
control and gait and coordination.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License (http://creative commons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing Children with to
third parties CPcopy
whoand
have reducedtheability
redistribute to
material
in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon develop the for
the material SMC necessary
any purpose, for skilled
even commercially,
movements may develop movement strategies.
provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.

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 Effect Of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation On Selective Motor Control Of Lower Extremity
Impaired SMC usually occurs with muscle Study design was an experimental pilot study and
weakness, spasticity and short muscle tendon convenient sampling was done. Randomization
length. Abnormal muscle tone causes a selective was done by a computer generated random
loss of muscle control and lack of balance number chart.
between agonists and antagonists.
Sample size was 22 i.e. 11 in each experimental
Loss of motor control interferes much more with group (Group A) and control group (Group B).
motor performance resulting in limitation of Subjects were clinically diagnosed cases of
movement quality. Hemiplegic CP between age group 4-12 years,
who fulfilled the inclusion criteria.
There are few studies done on the effectiveness
of PNF in children with cerebral palsy. Children Group A: PNF and Conventional treatment given.
with cerebral palsy have altered motor patterns Depending upon the affection or type of synergy
and an impaired selective control which makes present PNF pattern and technique was
their movements abrupt and uncoordinated. decided8,9,11,12. For Flexor synergy -D1&D2
Extension, for Extensor synergy- D1&D2 Flexion.
PNF is a hands on approach which has evidence Techniques: Combination of isotonics and
in improving muscle coordination and motor Dynamic reversal.
activities. Even if there are few studies on effect
of PNF those studies are mostly done on upper Group B: received 1 hour conventional treatment
extremity control. So the present study focuses of active ROM, active assisted ROM exercises for
on lower extremity SMC improvement using PNF hip, knee, ankle, passive stretching of Hamstrings,
approach. adductors, calf muscle , pelvic bridging, mini
squats, stepping (forward, backward, sideways),
Material and Methods: After obtaining stair climbing. The group A received same
Institutional Ethical Clearance the hemiplegic conventional PT treatment.
cerebral palsy children were recruited for the
study as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Both groups received upper extremity
conventional PT treatment like Fine motor
The nature of study was explained to parents and activities, stretching and strengthening. Both
signed written assent was obtained. Patient groups received treatment for 1 hour, 5 times in
diagnosed with hemiplegic cerebral palsy a week for 3 weeks.
between 4-12 years of age, both the genders,
GMFCS Level I, II and III able to communicate and Selective motor control for Lower extremity was
follow instructions. Flexor or Extensor synergy assessed at the end of 3 weeks and the difference
was included. between pre and post treatment scores was
measured.
Subjects who had undergone prior orthopedic/
surgical procedure of involved lower extremity, Result: The data was processed in SPSS 17.0
who had received botulinum toxin injection in software. Descriptive statistics calculated for
past 6 months for Lower Extremity Muscles, who demographic variables. Baseline data was
were taking oral or intrathecal myorelaxant assessed.
drugs, Fixed deformities, Mixed synergies,
Sensory involvement were excluded from the For Intragroup analysis Wilcoxon Signed-Rank
study. Subjects who were willing to discontinue test was used. For Intergroup analysis Mann-
the treatment were withdrawn from the study. Whitney U test was used. Overall out of 22
samples, 20 completed the study.
Selective Control Assessment Of Lower Extremity
(SCALE): It was used to assess selective motor 10 in Experimental group and 10 in the Control
control of entire lower extremity in spastic CP group. 1 dropped out from each group due to
children by summing scores of 5 joints (Hip, knee, personal reasons.
ankle, subtalar joint and Toes)and it was scored
to differentiate between muscle weakness and
lack of selective control and ability to move each
joint selectively.
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 Effect Of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation On Selective Motor Control Of Lower Extremity
Graph 1: Gender Distribution In Subjects Graph 3: Distribution Of GMFCS Level In
Subjects

Graph 2: Distribution Of Affected Side In

Subjects

Table 1: Intragroup Analysis Of Mean Difference On SCALE

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 Effect Of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation On Selective Motor Control Of Lower Extremity
Table 2: Intergroup Analysis Of Mean Difference group Hip, Knee, Ankle, Subtalar joint and Toes
On Scale failed to show statistically significant results post
treatment. A few subjects showed clinically
significant changes in Hip and knee components
i.e. as compared to Pre treatment scores, their
Post treatment scores were improved.

In Intergroup comparison, it was found that Hip,

Knee, Ankle, and Toes showed P> 0.05, which
was statistically not significant. But in post
treatment their clinically significant changes were
noted in hip, knee, ankle and subtalar joint in
experimental group. Clinically, on Total SCALE
score, the difference seen in experimental group
was more as compared to the control group.

Discussion: Lack of selective voluntary control

leads to alteration in joint kinetics and
kinematics13. In hemiplegic CP distal impairment
and muscle weakness was more compare to
proximal, causing imbalance of muscle activity
Table 3: Intragroup Analysis Of Mean Difference
across joints. Weak dorsiflexors, results in
Of Total Score On Scale
disturbances in distal joints. Toe-walking children
have reduced power generation of their gastro-
soleus complex14.

In experimental group, found that Combination

of isotonic techniques for proximal musculature
of hip helps to develop eccentric control8,11. Post
treatment, Dorsiflexion, Inversion and Eversion
movements showed improvement. The muscles
controlling the foot and ankle complex can act
either concentrically, i.e. by shortening or
eccentrically i.e lenghtening.

In hemiplegic CP in ankle foot complex any

disturbance in the properties of plantarflexors,
dorsiflexors, invertors and evertors, 14leads to
tightness; weakness or spasticity which disrupt
the smooth function of the foot.
Table 4: Intergroup Analysis Of Mean Difference In control group it was found that with
Of Total Score On Scale conventional treatment like stretching and
strengthening exercises, good muscle function is
promoted which helps to increase muscle length
and muscle balance thereby improving joint
integrity. Isolated movements then begin to
develop in the agonist muscle while the
antagonist muscle relaxes. Distally the
impairment was more as compared to proximal
The results showed in intragroup comparison of and it was observed that proximal recovery
experimental group, Hip, Knee, and Toes, yielded occurs prior to distal recovery. Eileen G Fowler
a p value p>0.05 which was statistically not found that the somatotopic organization of the
significant. But Hip and knee values showed lower extremity in the sensorimotor cortex
clinically significant difference as shown by an suggests that distal lower-extremity tracts are
increase in post treatment scores. In control
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 Effect Of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation On Selective Motor Control Of Lower Extremity
closer to the ventricle and more vulnerable than repaired to whatever extent that it can. Age has a
those of proximal lower-extremity muscles2. direct relation with growth spurt. In children as
age increases bones grow faster than muscle and
Distal muscles were generally weaker than muscle become tighter.
proximal muscles. Although the insertions of the
toe musculature are more distal, the origin of If muscle is to keep up with bony growth it
muscles controlling the ankle, subtalar joint, and requires both passive stretch and active
toes are similar. There may be greater capacity contraction, which should occur during normal
for sparing of corticospinal fibers associated with activity, e.g. walking. The loss of normal muscle
toe movement owing to greater density of stretch leads to muscle shortening, which in turn
CSTs15,16. The studies thus provide merit to the leads to the loss of the normal balance of
findings of the present study wherein we observe agonists and antagonists. This is particularly
that distal impairment was seen more in ankle important where there is spasticity of larger
joint, subtalar joint and toes although with the muscle groups, e.g. the gastrocnemius and
exception that we found toes to be more soleus17,18.
severely affected than the subtalar joint.
The current study found that PNF in Hemiplegic
In Intergroup comparison we found that as PNF cerebral palsy children can help to improve their
uses diagonal and spiral pattern of movements selective motor control and voluntary activation
applied along with their different techniques, of weaker muscles in lower extremity and is
which allows to target specific muscle groups recommended to be used as an adjunct to
and help to improve inter joint coordination. conventional therapy, as an early intervention.

Using PNF, enhances balancing ability by Conclusion: PNF can be use as an adjunct to
stimulating proprioceptive sense of muscles and conventional treatment in children with
tendons and also helps to strengthen muscle and hemiplegic cerebral palsy as it showed positive
improve selective motor control and flexibility in effects. Before any fixed deformity sets in, PNF
lower extremity. can be used as a treatment approach effectively
in younger children before 6 years of age. Long
PNF studies are maximally done on adult term follow up for carryover effects of PNF were
population and very few studies have tested the not assessed. This study concluded that there
effects of PNF on the pediatric population. Those was a positive effect of PNF on selective motor
testing effects of PNF on the pediatric population control of lower extremity in children with
primarily focused on studying the effects of PNF hemiplegic cerebral palsy.
on balance, gait and function.
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