Deficits in the ability to use proprioceptive feedback in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.

Compared with motor impairment in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP), less attention has been paid to sensory feedback processing deficits. This includes, especially, proprioceptive information regarding arm position. This study examined the ability of children with hemiplegic CP to use proprioceptive feedback during a goal-directed target-matching task. Eight children with hemiplegic CP and eight typically developing children performed proprioceptively guided matching of elbow position with either arm. Between groups, it was found that matching errors were significantly greater for the affected arm of children with hemiplegic CP. With respect to the side of brain injury, deficits were only seen for children with right hemisphere damage. These results provide valuable information that may assist in the development of more effective sensorimotor rehabilitation and training paradigms.