Development of postural adjustments during reaching in infants with CP

The development of postural adjustments during reaching movements was longitudinally studied in seven infants with cerebral palsy (CP) between 4 and 18 months of age. Five infants developed spastic hemiplegia, one spastic tetraplegia, and one spastic tetraplegia with athetosis. Each assessment consisted of a simultaneous recording of video data and surface EMGs of arm, neck, trunk, and leg muscles during reaching in various lying and sitting positions. The basic organization of postural adjustments of the children developing spastic CP was intact. Their main problem was a deficient capacity to modulate the postural adjustments to task-specific constraints – a deficit which was attributed to a combination of an impaired motor coordination and deficits in sensory integration. The child with spastic-dyskinetic CP showed distinct abnormalities in the basic organization of postural adjustments.