This study by the Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, in collaboration with CrossFit Basel (in particular Ramon Gysin), investigated whether long-term strength and endurance training can reduce functional deficits in adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP). Individuals with CP often have reduced muscle strength as well as impairments in muscle volume and activation, which negatively affect their daily functioning. Until now, it has remained unclear whether—and to what extent—these deficits can be reduced through long-term training.

A total of 27 adolescents participated in the study, including trained and untrained individuals with CP as well as trained and untrained healthy controls. Muscle strength, neural activation of the muscles, and muscle structure were examined in detail. The trained participants with CP had completed a combined strength and endurance training program regularly over a period of approximately 2.5 years.

The results show that trained adolescents with CP exhibited greater muscle strength and muscle mass compared to untrained adolescents with CP, particularly in the less affected leg. The findings also indicate that trained adolescents with CP approached the muscle strength levels of untrained healthy peers, suggesting that the training was effective. However, the ability to fully activate muscles was not improved by training in adolescents with CP. Additionally, the more affected leg benefited considerably less from the training.

Overall, the findings suggest that long-term training substantially improves performance levels in adolescents with CP and markedly reduces the performance gap compared to untrained healthy peers. These improvements appear to be primarily driven by muscular rather than neurological adaptations, and are more pronounced in the less affected side of the body.

The full article will soon be available on the website of BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders.

Contributing authors: Alice Minghetti, Ralf Roth, Sereina Büttiker, Eric Lichtenstein, Paul Ritsche, Martin Keller
Title of the publication: The relationship between exposure to long-term training, neuromuscular function and muscular structure in adolescents with cerebral palsy and typically-developed peers: a cross-sectional follow-up analysis