Not yet recruitingNo phase

Targeted Muscle Activation During Strength Training for Children With CP

Key facts

Who runs it: Universitaire Ziekenhuizen KU Leuven
Where: Belgium1 site in 1 countryChoose a country to see its sites
Trial code: NCT07800221
Status: Not yet recruiting
People taking part: 30 people, planned
Started: 1 Sept 2026
Expected to end: 28 Feb 2029
Type of study: Observational
Record updated: 2 September 2026

Who can take part

Age: 5 years to 12 years
Sex: Women and men
Healthy volunteers: Cannot take part

The registry criteria, word for word

Show all 9 criteriaShow less

Who can take part

Confirmed diagnosis of spastic cerebral palsy
Aged 5 - 12 years at the time of inclusion
GMFCS level I - III
At least 3 months post-injection with Botulinum neurotoxin in muscles relevant to the target or compensatory activation patterns (rationale: there is no expected residual neuromuscular effect of Botulinum neurotoxin injections on muscle activation patterns ≥3 months post Botulinum neurotoxin injection)
≥12 months post lower-limb orthopaedic surgery

Who cannot take part

Dyskinetic or ataxic cerebral palsy
Severe spasticity (Modified Ashworth ≥3)
Severe bony deformities or comorbidities precluding valid assessments
Insufficient ability to understand instructions or cooperate with the assessment procedures

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 5 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

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of physical disability in children and is associated with muscle weakness, spasticity, and impaired motor control. These impairments often lead to compensatory movement strategies, in which other muscles are recruited or movements are adapted to offload weaker target muscles. Although lower limb strengthening is widely used to improve motor function in children with CP, outcomes remain inconsistent. One potentially important but rarely examined factor is whether the intended muscles are actually activated during training. This study aims to develop and apply an activation-driven assessment protocol that combines individualized exercise selection, real-time electromyography (EMG) biofeedback, and compensation monitoring to identify conditions that promote target-muscle activation while limiting compensatory mechanisms. The focus is on three key muscle groups: hip extensors (HE), knee extensors (KE), and plantar flexors (PF). In this prospective[JV2.1], within-subject repeated-measures study, 30 ambulant children aged 5-12 years with spastic CP and Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I-III will complete three assessment visits in which exercise conditions and feedback strategies are compared using surface EMG and three-dimensional movement analysis.