Efficacy of Task Oriented Training vs. Group Circuit Training Programme to Improve Functional Mobility in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Introduction: Cerebral palsy (CP) refers to a group of non-progressive neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood. Since CP in children causes structural and functional changes in the neuromusculoskeletal system they are mostly presented with motor disorders, sensory disturbances which leads to impairment in functional mobility, several physical rehabilitation techniques benefited the children with CP in improving their physical health and mental wellbeing. The aim of the study is to analyse the effectiveness of group circuit training and task oriented training on functional mobility in children with cerebral palsy.

Materials and Methods: This study design is a comparative study design and was done in physiotherapy OP department in KGH hospital, RK mission cerebral palsy clinic in Visakhapatnam. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria a study sample of 30 subjects was selected. The subjects were allocated into two groups through random sampling method, group A(n=15) received Task oriented training along with conventional physiotherapy, and group B(n=15) received circuit training along with conventional physiotherapy 3 sessions/week for 5 weeks for 30-40 minutes. Functional mobility was assessed by using the outcome measures GMFM 88 scale and TUG test.

Results: The findings of the study revealed improved clinical outcomes in both groups. There was a statistical significance difference between the circuit training group and task oriented training in all the outcome variables at (P<0.05).

Conclusion: The study concluded that there was improvement in functional mobility in both groups. However the task oriented training was more effective than circuit training in improving the functional mobility in children with cerebral palsy.