Cortical proprioceptive processing is altered in children with diplegic cerebral palsy

Abstract

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have various motor impairments, but less is known about the processing deficits of the somatosensory afference, especially in the proprioceptive domain. Proprioception (“the movement sense”) is behaviorally impaired primarily in the more affected hand of children with CP1,2 and bilaterally in the lower limbs2 . There are no prior studies quantifying the cortical proprioceptive processing in CP, but hand representation area is diminished to tactile stimuli in hemiplegic CP3 and the primary cortical response to tibial nerve stimulation is reduced in diplegic CP4