Whole Body Vibration's Potential to Improve Balance and Function in Cerebral Palsy in Weight and Non-Weight Bearing Positions: A Hypothesis Study

Abstract

Cerebral palsy is one of the most prevalent neurological conditions in children. It has classical features of spasticity, poor balance and coordination, muscle weakness, proprioception, and inter-limb coordination. The primary cause is brain damage which affects certain circuits of the central nervous system. It has been reported that D1 inhibition is affected by cerebral palsy. The corticospinal and somatosensory pathways are also affected in the central nervous system along with abnormal activation of the motor neuron pool. There is abnormal presynaptic inhibition and post-activation depression of Ia afferents, while Group II facilitation is strongly enhanced. There are various therapies available to treat the symptoms of cerebral palsy, among which whole-body vibration therapy is considered to change the spinal transmission and somatosensory input. WBVT is typically administered in a weight bearing stance, targeting the lower extremities only. To the best of our knowledge, there is no research available exploring the cross-training effect of WBVT applied to upper and lower extremities, both weight and non-weight bearing positions, either alone on altogether. Hence, we propose that administering the WBVT across various configurations, incorporating weight and non-weight bearing positions for both upper and lower extremities could induce neural plasticity through cross training effect. We expect that by engaging all extremities in weight bearing positions may yield more significant outcomes compared to focusing solely on either upper or lower extremities.