THE ADVANTAGES OF STRENGTH TRAINING IN LOWER LIMBS TO IMPROVE THE GAIT OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH CEREBRAL PALSY: A NARRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Cerebral palsy describes a group of permanent disorders of movement and posture attributed to a non-progressive disorder that occurs during fetal or infant brain development. There is a wide variation in the ways in which CP presents itself, being directly related to the extent of neurological damage, with different degrees of motor and cognitive impairment. Motor part changes include gait problems (such as paralysis of the legs), hemiplegia (weakness on one side of the body), changes in muscle tone (spasticity characterized by muscle rigidity), and involuntary spasms of the limbs. One of the main causes of Cerebral Palsy (CP) is hypoxia, a situation in which, for some reason related to childbirth, both related to the mother and the fetus, there is a lack of oxygenation in the brain, resulting in a brain injury . Children with CP who can walk have approximately 36% to 82% of the muscle strength of typically developing children. Muscle weakness is often reported as a major factor affecting walking ability. Thus, the present study aims to identify whether lower limb strength training is effective for pediatric patients with infantile paralysis and their improvement in gait. For the development of this work, a bibliographical and qualitative research was used, carried out from the search in the databases: PEdro and Pubmed, in Portuguese and English, between the years 2018 and 2022. 313 studies were found and after reading the titles and abstracts, in addition to not being suitable for the purpose of the study, according to the exclusion criteria, 8 studies were selected. The studies analyzed in this review had, for the most part, positive results in relation to the improvement of gait after strengthening the lower limbs, resulting from the applied interventions. However, some studies still resist or do not support the effectiveness of strengthening techniques to improve the gait of children with CP. Thus, it is essential to increase the scientific evidence through studies that correlate the intervention in terms of time and correct use to improve the strength and gait of pediatric patients, to prove a justifiable and efficient intervention.