Patternizing standards of sit-to-stand movements with support in cerebral palsy

Objective: By utilizing patternizing standards, this study attempted to obtain objective evaluation index of sit-to-stand (STS) movements of children with cerebral palsy (CP). In hopes that this understanding can lead to a standardized and effective physical therapy treatment of CP STS movements. Design: The subjects were 50 children with CP, aged from three years and two months to twelve years and four months, mean age nine years and eleven months. The control group consisted of ten healthy children, aged from four years and five months to eleven years and ten months, mean age seven years and two months. In the analysis, firstly, pictures of the subjects' (CP and control group) STS movements were taken from the side with one digital video camera. Next, these STS movements were classified into two phases (first phase, sitting position to hip off the seat; second phase, hip off the seat to standing position), and the state of the subjects' extremities was evaluated by 15 items. Based on these 15 items, characteristics of STS movements were identified and recorded as YES or NO. Finally, using SPSS (version13), cluster analysis was conducted. Results: The subjects' STS movements were classified into five aggregate groups. Conclusion: From these findings, it was possible to distinguish the characteristics and differences of STS movements in healthy children and CP subjects. Moreover, the CP subjects were also able to be classified into four groups based on their shared characteristics of STS movements.