Comparison of the balance of children with cerebral palsy and children with normal motor development

Cerebral palsy (CP) refers to neuromuscular deficit caused by a non-progressive lesion of the immature brain resulting in a clinical variety, but presenting a common motor and sensory integration deficit. Objective. The aim of this descriptive study was to compare the performance of balance between hemiparetic spastic children with CP classified at Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level I and normal development children in the same age by dynamic posturography. Results. As a result, we find similarity between both groups for the variables of postural stability and adjustment, and we could see greater difficulty of children with CP to maintain and restores balance in the anteroposterior axis, although the CP group under some conditions, performed better when compared to children in normal development. Conclusion. We conclude that the similarities found are due to the fact that both groups were still in neuronal maturation of postural control, and that children with CP had greater sway and displacement of the center of pressure in the anteroposterior direction.