Deliberately Light Interpersonal Contact Affects the Control of Head Stability During Walking in Children and Adolescents With Cerebral Palsy.

Objective: To evaluate the potential of deliberately light interpersonal touch (IPT) for reducing excessive head and trunk sway during self-paced walking in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP).

Design: Quasi-experimental, proof-of-concept study with between-groups comparison.

Setting: Ambulant care facility, community center.

Participants: Children and adolescents (N=65), consisting of those with CP (spastic and ataxic, n=26; Gross Motor Function Classification System I-III; mean age, 9.8y; 11 girls, 15 boys) and those who were typically developed (TD, n=39; mean age, 10.0y; 23 girls, 16 boys).

Interventions: IPT applied by a therapist to locations at the back and the head.

Main Outcome Measures: As primary outcomes, head and trunk sway during self-paced walking were assessed by inertial measurement units. Secondary outcomes were average step length and gait speed.

Results: CP group: apex and occiput IPT reduced head velocity sway compared with thoracic IPT (both P=.04) irrespective of individuals' specific clinical symptoms. TD group: all testing conditions reduced head velocity sway compared with walking alone (all P≤.03), as well as in apex and occiput IPT compared with paired walking (both P≤.02).

Conclusions: Deliberately light IPT at the apex of the head alters control of head sway in children and adolescents with CP. The effect of IPT varies as a function of contact location and acts differently in TD individuals.