Relationship of upper extremity weight bearing to hand skills of boys with cerebral palsy

The purpose of this study was to obtain data concerning the relationship between a commonly used treatment technique-weight bearing on extended arms-and the reach, grasp, and release skills of 3 boys with spastic cerebral palsy. A multiple-baseline, across-subjects research design was used. With the possible exception of the results for one arm of 1 subject, the results indicated that the technique had a positive relationship with the prehension skills of the 3 boys. Direct and systematic replication is warranted to determine the generalizability of this technique. Although the results of studies of isolated techniques, such as weight bearing on upper extremities, cannot be generalized to total treatment procedures, they do provide tentative support for the use of commonly used techniques and direction for studies of total treatment approaches.