Effects of mind-body exercise in children with cerebral palsy-A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and purpose:
An increasing number of studies have investigated the efficacy of mind-body exercise in the treatment of children with cerebral palsy (CP). However, the findings of these researches have produced inconsistent results. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of mind-body exercise on children with CP in order to provide more conclusive results.

Materials and methods:
A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science, and Ovid databases from inception to May 2024. One researcher extracted the data, including first author, study type, country, year of publication, population, age, sample size, intervention details and outcomes, accuracy was verified by a second researcher. The included studies were analyzed using Review Manager 5.4 (RevMan 5.4) and StataNow/MP 18.5 software, with publication bias examined using funnel plots, and result stability assessed through sensitivity analysis.

Results:
A total of six eligible studies, comprising 173 patients, were included in the meta-analysis. The results of the meta-analysis indicated that mind-body exercise can improve balance function in children with CP (SMD = 0.48, P = 0.006). There was no significant difference in the effect of mind-body exercise on walking function in children with CP (SMD = -0.23, P = 0.58).

Conclusion:
Compared with routine care and rehabilitation, mind-body exercise may provide a safe and convenient approach to improving balance functions in children with CP, but showed no statistically significant beneficial effects on walking in children with CP.

Prospero registration number:
CRD42024534257.

Keywords: Balance; Cerebral palsy; Children; Meta-analysis; Mind-body exercise.

PMID: 39536700 DOI: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2024.101930