Efficiency of Bobath Approach versus Practice on Gross Manual Dexterity in Children with Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of two different treatment interventions, neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT) and practicing of specific functional activity, on improving the gross manual dexterity of the affected upper extremity in spastic hemiparetic cerebral palsied children. Thirty children with spastic hemiparetic cerebral palsy (CP) participated in the study, ranging in age from 4 to 7 years. They were selected from both sexes. Gross manual dexterity was examined by the use of Box and Block test (BBT), which was performed before and after one month of intervention. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups of equal number. Group (I) received NDT and group (II) received practice of BBT (which was used as an activity for this group). The two groups were treated 6 days per week for one month. The results of the study revealed an improvement in the post-BBT in group (I) with no significant change in group (II), indicating the effectiveness of NDT in improving gross manual dexterity of the affected upper extremity in spastic hemiparetic CP.