Timing Training in Three Children with Diplegic Cerebral Palsy: Short- and Long-Term Effects on Upper-Limb Movement Organization and Functioning

Despite the great need of interventions to maintain and improve motor functions in children with diplegic cerebral palsy (DCP), scientific evaluations of existing training methods are rare. This study aimed to explore individual effects of synchronized metronome training (SMT) on motor timing, spatio-temporal movement organization, and subjective experiences of changes in upper-limb functions in three children with DCP. All children participated in an individualized 4-week/12 session SMT training regime. Measurements before training (Pre), after training (Post1), and at 6 months post completed training (Post2) were made by the applied SMT training equipment, optoelectronic registrations of goal-directed upper-limb movements, and a questionnaire assessing subjective experiences of changes in upper-limb functions and usability. In general, the training regime was shown to have little effect on motor timing. However, some positive changes in spatio-temporal movement organization were found. Two children also reported substantial long-lasting positive changes in subjective experiences of hand/arm functionality in terms of increased movement control and reduced muscle tone. For these children, parallel kinematic findings also indicated smoother and faster movement trajectories that remained at Post2. Although highly individualized, the shown improvements in upper-limb kinematics and subjective experiences of improved functionality of the hands/arms for two of the cases warrant further explorations of SMT outcomes in children with DCP.