The Role of Play-Based Therapy in Managing Motor Skills in Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP): A Systematic Review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background: A neurodevelopmental disease known as cerebral palsy (CP) is characterized by long-lasting motor deficits that negatively impact everyday functioning and quality of life. Frequent physical exercises are a common component of traditional rehabilitation techniques, but they could not provide the level of involvement required for long-term progress in juvenile populations. Objective: To systematically evaluate the effectiveness of play-based therapy in improving motor skills among children with cerebral palsy. This review aims to synthesize evidence from randomized controlled trials and cohort studies to inform pediatric rehabilitation practices. Methodology: This systematic review assessed the data from 18 research published between January 2018 and January 2025, including 10 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 8 cohort studies. Relevant search phrases were used to conduct database searches in PubMed, Cochrane Library, BMJ, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar. Using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (for cohort studies) and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool (for RCTs), studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria were evaluated critically. Results: Following play-based therapy, the examined trials showed notable improvements in motor outcomes. Gross and fine motor skills, balance, and functional mobility all showed improvements; the effect sizes varied according on the severity of CP, the length of the intervention, and the uniformity of the protocol. Moreover, improved engagement and therapeutic adherence were commonly found in all of the investigations. Conclusion: For children with cerebral palsy, play-based therapy is an engaging and successful way to manage motor deficits. This method improves motivation, adherence, and neuroplasticity by incorporating therapeutic exercises into pleasurable, purposeful activities. Although more standardization and long-term research are required to maximize results, the data support its inclusion as a fundamental part of pediatric rehabilitation.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.007 | 0.031 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.007 | 0.007 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.007 | 0.006 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".