An addition to existing strength measures in children with cerebral palsy

Children with cerebral palsy have problems using their arms and hands, partly due to muscle weakness. Because of the impairments in arm-hand functioning, children with CP have limitations in performing activities of daily life (ADL). Rehabilitation is mainly aimed to improve motor function, so children with CP increase the ability to perform activities and become more independent. During therapy it is common to measure strength. However, no measures were yet available to measure strength in a functional manner. Therefore, the TAAC was developed. The TAAC measures functional strength: strength while performing an ADL task. The TAAC contains a sensor, which measures the strength while the child lifts or pushes an ADL object. When a new measure, such as the TAAC, is developed it is important that it is in line with the demand of the clinical practice and that it has sufficient clinimetric properties for its purposes. As the TAAC is developed for diagnostic and evaluative purposes, the reliability, validity and responsiveness were investigated.