The effects of the saddle seat on seated postural control and upper-extremity movement in children with cerebral palsy.

A repeated-measures experimental cross-over study was conducted with school-aged children with spastic cerebral palsy (spastic CP) to compare the effects of flat-bench versus saddle-bench seating on postural control and reaching motions. The saddle bench allowed significantly better postural control as measured by the clinical rating scale Sitting Assessment for Children with Neuromotor Dysfunction and by a study-defined variable, Spinal Extension. No statistically significant differences were found for any other variables using aggregate data-analysis techniques. However, the group results and those of single-subject data analysis suggest that the saddle seat may help such children to develop and maintain seated postural control and upper-extremity movement patterns.