Rebound therapy and gross motor skills. (version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of using rebound therapy to improve gross motor skills and participation of children with cerebral palsy.
IRAS ID
128947
Contact name
Paul Marshall
Contact email
Research summary
This is a feasibility study to examine the effects of rebound therapy on gross motor skills and participation of children with cerebral palsy.
Rebound therapy is the use of trampolines to provide therapeutic exercise for people with disabilities. Rebound therapy is frequently used by our children’s physiotherapy service but there is little evidence to support its use.
Our service recently stopped offering rebound therapy for children with mild physical disabilities due to pressures on staffing and questions of its effectiveness. However there is anecdotal evidence to support rebound therapy and I have observed improvements in gross motor skills of these children following a short block of rebound therapy.
This will be a same-subject experimental study.
The intervention will involve one 20 minute rebound therapy session per week for 6 weeks. The session will be led by a qualified physiotherapist at a school in Leeds with specialist resources for children with disabilities and purpose built rebound therapy facilities. All participants’ parent/carer will complete a medical screening questionnaire prior to commencing the therapy. Gross motor skills assessment will be carried out at the child’s school 6 weeks prior to commencing rebound, immediately before the first session, and after the final session. Participation will be assessed by semi-structured clinical interview of participants immediately before the first rebound session and 6 weeks after the final session. Participants’ responses to the clinical interview will be verified by parents/carers.
Children invited to participate in the study will be on the current physiotherapy caseload for children with long-term neurological conditions, have a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, be independently mobile and have difficulties with more advanced gross motor skills i.e. jumping, hopping.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/YH/0426
Date of REC Opinion
13 Feb 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion