Efficacy of Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation on Balance in Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives: Evaluate efficacy of rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) on balance in children with cerebral palsy. Study design: Randomized controlled trial Setting: Sri-Sangwan School, Bangkok, Thailand Subjects: Children with cerebral palsy, GMFCS levels I to III Methods: Participants were randomly allocated into RAS and control groups. All participants underwent a physical therapy involving exercises and gait training for 3 weeks. RAS group received gait training with RAS. We measured Timed Up and Go-In Children (TUG-IC), Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS), Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-66), and gait velocity. Results: 22 cerebral palsy aged 7-15 years were divided into control and RAS, 11 participants per group. Results revealed improvement of TUG-IC, PBS, and GMFM-66 in both groups. The median (95% CI) difference between before and after training of TUG-IC were 1.51 (-16.35, 21.77) second in control and 0.90 (-29.38, 25.76) second in RAS. The differences in PBS were 1.5 (0.03-3.96) in control and 1 (-3.84, 1.84) in RAS. The change of GMFM-66 was 3.5 (0.38, 5.61) in control and 3 (-3.78, 3.78) in RAS. Whereas gait velocity only increased in control group. RAS showed no statistically significant improvement in TUG-IC, PBS, and GMFM-66. While control group only significantly increased PBS and GMFM-66 (p = 0.047, p = 0.027), no significant difference in TUG-IC or gait velocity. Comparison between RAS and control revealed no significant difference in TUG-IC, PBS, GMFM-66, or gait velocity. Conclusions: The addition of RAS to physical therapy may not improve efficacy of training beyond effects of physical therapy alone.