Linear and Nonlinear Measures of Postural Control in a Toddler With Cerebral Palsy: Brief Report

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe changes in linear and nonlinear measures of postural control along with motor outcomes in a young child with cerebral palsy. Summary of Key Points: Posturography in sitting and standing, the Gross Motor Function Measure-66 (GMFM-66), and the Early Clinical Assessment of Balance (ECAB) were performed prior to, during, and after physical therapy. The child demonstrated independent sitting throughout the study and developed independent standing during the study. He made improvements in the GMFM-66 and ECAB throughout the study. Higher average values were found in all linear and nonlinear measures in standing when compared to sitting, which may indicate less predictable movement due to less experience with standing. Recommendations for Clinical Practice: Greater variability and lower predictability in postural control likely reflect early stages of skill acquisition. Research is needed to understand the optimal levels of movement variability and predictability.

Unveiling the Chaos in Postural Control in Adults with Achondroplasia

“…This measure can be used to estimate the randomness of a series of data without any previous knowledge about the source generating the dataset [ 27 ]. Sample entropy is not a measure of complexity but provides information on an aspect of complexity, namely, how regular or predictable the data are, in which higher entropy means lower predictability [ 28 ]. Additionally, the correlation dimension (CoDim) measures the dimensionality of the time series in place, with higher dimensions pointing to more complex spatial corrections.…”

Studying the Research–Practice Gap in Physical Therapies for Cerebral Palsy: Preliminary Outcomes Based on a Survey of Spanish Clinicians

“…Postural control can be defined as the ability to control the body’s position in space for purposes of stability and orientation [ 7 , 8 , 9 ] and depends on the capacities of the neuromuscular and musculoskeletal systems. As their neuromuscular system has restricted capacity for coordinating muscles in postural synergies, this fact gives rise to multiple dysfunctions in sequencing, in activation time for postural response, and in adapting posture to the setting.…”