Children with moderate to severe cerebral palsy may not benefit from stochastic vibration when developing independent sitting.

PURPOSE: Determine sitting postural control changes for children with cerebral palsy (CP), using a perceptual-motor intervention and the same intervention plus stochastic vibration through the sitting surface.

METHODS: Two groups of children with moderate or severe CP participated in the 12 week interventions. The primary outcome measure was center of pressure data from which linear and nonlinear variables were extracted and the gross motor function measure (GMFM).

RESULTS: There were no significant main effects of intervention or time or an interaction. Both treatment groups increased the Lyapunov exponent values in the medial-lateral direction three months after the start of treatment as well as their GMFM scores in comparison with baseline.

CONCLUSIONS: The stochastic vibration did not seem to advance the development of sitting postural control in children between the ages of 2 and 6 years. However, perceptual-motor intervention was found beneficial in advancing sitting behavior.