Corticomuscular Coherence in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy: A Feasibility and Preliminary Protocol Study.

This study assessed the feasibility of corticomuscular coherence measurement during a goal-directed task in children with unilateral cerebral palsy while establishing optimal experimental parameters. Participants (Manual Ability Classification System levels I-III) completed a submaximal isometric goal-directed grip task during simultaneous electroencephalography and electromyography (EMG) acquisition. All participants (n = 11, 6 females, mean age 11.3 ±2.4 years) completed corticomuscular coherence procedures. Of the 40 trials obtained per extremity, an average of 29 (n = 9) and 27 (n = 10) trials were retained from the more- and less-affected extremities, respectively. Obtaining measurement stability required an average of 28 trials per extremity. Findings from this work support the feasibility of corticomuscular coherence measurement in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Acquiring 28 to 40 corticomuscular coherence trials per extremity is ideal. The experimental parameters established in this work will inform future corticomuscular coherence application in pediatric unilateral cerebral palsy.