| Summary: | A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of a Master of Science in Physiotherapy
Johannesburg 2016 === The aim of this study was to determine if there are similarities and/or differences with regards to function, tone and strength between children with spastic diplegia as a result of CP and HIV encephalopathy as the prevalence of HIV infected children with diplegia has increased since the advent of HAART.
Participants with spastic diplegia (GMFCS I to IV) between the ages of four and sixteen were consecutively selected at two state hospitals and two private practices in Johannesburg. Thirty three HIV infected and thirty one HIV uninfected participants were assessed using a Gross Motor Function Measure 66 (GMFM-66), Functional Mobility Scale (FMS), Modified Ashworth Scale for tone, and a hand-held dynamometer for strength.
There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups for function, strength and tone. When the groups were separated into functional (GMFCS I and II) and non-functional groups (GMFCS III and IV), there were no statistically significant differences between the HIV infected and HIV uninfected participants for function (functional group p=0.52, non-functional group p=0.74), tone and strength. There was a clinically important difference found for the GMFM-66 in the functional group in favour of the HIV infected participants. There was a trend for the HIV infected functional participants to be weaker and have milder tone compared to their HIV uninfected counterparts while the non-functional HIV infected participants tended to have milder tone and be stronger than their HIV uninfected counterparts.
In conclusion, the HIV infected group presented similarly to the HIV uninfected group. The lack of gait analysis and a small sample size once the initial group was stratified, are limitations of this study. Further research is required with larger sample sizes to verify the results of this study. === MT2017
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