Anticipatory postural control in the diplegic forms of cerebral palsy: influence of the perceptive impairment

Children with Diplegic Infantile Cerebral Palsy (dICP) frequently show functional disabilities which cannot be ascribed to motor dysfunctions but rather directly to an impaired movement perception. This Perceptive Impairment (PI) entails the failure of a complex multisensory process involving the proprioceptive, visual, somaesthetic, and vestibular systems [1]. Children with PI recurrently show the following signs: i) exaggerated and low threshold startle reaction, ii) freezing posture, iii) blinking or closing eyes, iv) visual attention shifting, and v) facial grimaces. Postural adjustments depend on motor reactions as well as on perception, but perception has a leading role in anticipation [1]. We aimed to investigate how PI negatively influences Anticipatory Postural Adjustments (APAs).