Taking peopleNo phase

Power2Walk: The Impact of Functional Power Training on Participation and Activity in Children With Cerebral Palsy.

Key facts

Who runs it: Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc
Where: Netherlands10 sites in 1 countryChoose a country to see its sites
Trial code: NCT06640894
Status: Recruiting
People taking part: 66 people, planned
Started: 19 Jul 2024
Expected to end: 31 Aug 2027
Type of study: Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets an existing treatment, for comparison.
Treatments tested: MegaPower training
Usual Care
Record updated: 29 December 2025

Who can take part

Age: 4 years to 12 years
Sex: Women and men
Healthy volunteers: Cannot take part

The registry criteria, word for word

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Who can take part

Children with cerebral palsy or a related non-progressive disorder between the ages of 4 to 12
Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level I - III
Parents and/or children have a treatment question related to participation of the child

Who cannot take part

Treatment with botulinum toxin and/or serial casting in lower extremities planned during the study period
Treatment with botulinum toxin in the twelve weeks prior to participation in the study
Treatment with serial casting in the three weeks prior to participation in the study
Children that underwent a selective dorsal rhizotomy twelve months prior to participation in the study
Children that underwent orthopedic surgery on their lower extremities in the 12 months before participation in the study
Children that have received MegaPower training in the last 4 months before participation in the study
Participants that suffer from a progressive neurological disorder
Children for whom walking is not their preferred method of locomotion (yet)

Check if you might fit

Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.

Are you between 4 and 12 years old?

This trial has no sites in United States.

It has sites in one country. Choose a country to see its sites.

About the trial

What the trial wants to find out

Rationale: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) experience limitations in walking ability due to functional motor impairments caused by neurodevelopmental damage during fetal or early child development. Due to these motor impairments, children with CP struggle to keep up with typically developing peers when participating in physical and/or social activities. Consequently, the development of these children may be hampered. Recently, functional power training (FPT) emerged as a potentially successful supplementary treatment method to improve participation in children with CP. It is understood that FPT is more effective than progressive resistance training in improving walking ability and endurance, and thereby better supports participation in ambulatory children with CP. Nevertheless, high-level scientific evidence underpinning the efficacy of FPT on these parameters in ambulant children with CP is still lacking. The investigators hypothesize that FPT effectively helps accomplish patient-tailored participation and activity goals in ambulant children with CP.

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Objective: This study aims to investigate whether twelve weeks of FPT (MegaPower training) effectively accomplish patient-tailored participation and activity goals in ambulant children with CP, when compared to their usual care. Additionally, the goal is to investigate i) whether MegaPower training improves walking ability, aerobic endurance, and anaerobic capacity; ii) what factors best identify which ambulant children with CP benefit most from twelve weeks of MegaPower training; iii) to what extend the MegaPower training was implemented as intended in the participating study centers?, and iv) whether the effects of the MegaPower training are maintained after 12 and 24 weeks of follow-up.

Study design: A single-blind randomized controlled parallel trial with a 24 week follow-up. During the follow-up, the control group will also receive MegaPower training.

Study population: Ambulant children with cerebral palsy or a related non-progressive disorder between the ages of 4 - 12.

Intervention: One group will receive twelve weeks of FPT (MegaPower training), whilst the other group will receive twelve weeks of usual care (control group).

Main study parameters/endpoints: Accomplishment of patient-tailored participation and activity goals, measured through Goal Attainment Scaling.

The 2 groups in the trial

Intervention (MegaPower training)Treatment being tested
MegaPower training is a twelve-week long functional power training program in which children will perform functional power training three times a week together with a personal trainer. During the intervention, training volume will be influenced by training weight, velocity of movement, and amount of repetitions. The training program has the following characteristics: 1. (Weighted) functional exercises like walking, running, and walking stairs. 2. High velocity movements. 3. Progressive overload. Prior to and during the training, a physiotherapist makes a personalized participation plan for the child. This plan is used to tackle participation barriers related to their goal (not directly related to mobility; e.g. beliefs or behaviours) encountered by the child (e.g. involving parents, a sports consultant, a psychologist). Both at twelve and twenty-four weeks during the follow-up, parent and child will visit again to measure whether the effects on participation are long-lasting.
Treatment: MegaPower training
Control (Usual Care)Existing treatment, for comparison
The control group will receive their usual care for twelve weeks (non-intervention group). This usual care consists of physiotherapy appointments, for example.
Treatment: Usual Care