BACKGROUND: The recovery of gross motor function is the basis for the improvement of other abilities. It is helpful for judging the rehabilitative effect and prognosis of children with cerebral palsy to analyze the effect of different clinical types on the gross motor ability. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of different clinical types and different involved sites of limbs of cerebral palsy on the effect of rehabilitative interventions on gross motor function. DESIGN: A controlled observation before and after treatment. SETTING: Rehabilitation Center of Qilu Children’s Hospital, Shandong University. PARTICIPANTS: Totally 138 children with cerebral palsy having complete data, who were hospitalized for 12 months in the Rehabilitation Center of Qilu Children’s Hospital, Shandong University, were selected from April 2004 to September 2006, including 97 males and 41 females; 55 cases were younger than 2 years old, 47 cases younger than 4 years and 36 cases younger than 6 years; 76 cases of spasm type, 30 cases of involuntary movement and 32 cases of mixed type (mixture of spasm and involuntary movement); 64 cases of diplegia, 46 cases of tetraplegia and 28 cases of hemiplegia. All the children and their relatives were informed and agreed to cooperate with the experiments. METHODS: All the 138 children with cerebral palsy were given comprehensive rehabilitative treatment: The assessment of comprehensive ability was conducted to all the children with cerebral palsy by the rehabilitative group before rehabilitation treatment, the rehabilitative objective was established according to the results of the assessment, then feasible rehabilitative training plan was made up. The comprehensive rehabilitative treatment was conducted as planned afterwards: ① Physical therapy: The Bobath method was used, and motor development was promoted by proprioceptive hand technique. ② Traditional Chinese medicine therapy: Massage: The children were massaged by using the maneuvers of push, press, rub, pull, wave, etc. to promote the development of motor function. Acupuncture: The head acupuncture therapy was mainly used. Assessment of therapeutic effect: There were five functional areas: area A(clinostatism and turning over the body); area B (sitting position); area C (crawling and kneeling); area D (standing position); area E (walking, running and jumping), totally 88 items, and the total score ranged 0 to 264 points. The improved GMFM total score= GMFM total score after treatment -GMFM total score before treatment. The higher the improved GMFM total score, the better the effect of rehabilitative treatment. The one-way analysis of variance was conducted to the improved GMFM total score and the clinical types and involved sites of limbs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The correlation of improved GMFM total score after rehabilitative interventions with the clinical types and involved sites of limbs were observed in children with cerebral palsy. RESULTS: All the 138 children with cerebral palsy were involved in the analysis of results. The improved GMFM total scores after rehabilitative treatment were significantly different among children with cerebral palsy of spasm, involuntary movement and mixed types [(19.20±9.29), (12.69±4.47), (6.31±1.89) points, F =25.227, P < 0.01], the GMFM total scores after rehabilitative treatment was improved greatest in children with cerebral palsy of spasm type, but the smallest in those of mixed type. The improved GMFM total scores after rehabilitative treatment were significantly different among children with hemiplegia, diplegia and tetraplegia [(20.26±11.79), (14.57±9.87), (7.63±4.11) points, F =28.828, P < 0.01], the improved score was the highest in those with hemiplegia, and the lowest in those with tetraplegia. CONCLUSION: Different clinical types and different involved sites of limbs may affect the effect of gross motor function recovery after rehabilitative interventions in children with cerebral palsy. BACKGROUND: The recovery of gross motor function is the basis for the improvement of other abilities. It is helpful for judging the rehabilitative effect and prognosis of children with cerebral palsy to analyze the effect of different clinical types on the gross motor ability. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of different clinical types and different involved sites of limbs of cerebral palsy on the effect of rehabilitative interventions on gross motor function. : Totally 138 children with cerebral palsy having complete data, who were hospitalized for 12 months in the Rehabilitation Center of Qilu Children’s Hospital, Shandong University, were selected from April 2004 to September 2006, including 97 males and 41 females; 55 cases were younger than 2 years old, 47 cases younger than 4 years and 36 cases younger than 6 years; 76 c ases of spasm type, 30 cases of involuntary movement and 32 cases of mixed type (mixture of spasm and involuntary movement); 64 cases of diplegia, 46 cases of tetraplegia and 28 cases of hemiplegia. All the children and their relatives were informed and agreed to cooperate with the experiments. METHODS: All the 138 children with cerebral palsy were given comprehensive rehabilitative treatment: The assessment of comprehensive ability was conducted to all the children with cerebral palsy by the rehabilitative group before rehabilitation treatment, the rehabilitative objective was established according to the results of the assessment, then feasible rehabilitative training plan was made up. The comprehensive rehabilitative treatment was planned as afterwards: ① Physical therapy: The Bobath method was used, and motor development was promoted by proprioceptive hand technique. ② Traditional Chinese medicine therapy : Massage: The children were massaged by using the maneuvers of push, press, rub, pull, wave, etc. to promote the development of motor function. Acupuncture: The head acupuncture therapy was mainly used. Assessment of therapeutic effect: There were five functional areas: area A (clinostatism and turning over the body) area C (crawling and kneeling); area D (standing position); area E (walking, running and jumping), totally 88 items, and the total score ranged 0 to 264 points. The improved GMFM total score = GMFM total score after treatment-GMFM total score before treatment. The higher the improved GMFM total score, the better the effect of rehabilitative treatment. The one-way analysis of variance was conducted to the improved GMFM total score and the clinical types and involved sites of limbs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The correlation of improved GMFM total score after rehabilitative interventions with the clinical types and involved sites of limbs were observed in children with cerebral palsy. RESULTS: All the 138 children wit The improved GMFM total scores after rehabilitative treatment were significantly different among children with cerebral palsy of spasm, involuntary movement and mixed types [(19.20 ± 9.29), (12.69 ± 4.47), (6.31 ± 1.89) points, F = 25.227, P <0.01], the GMFM total scores after rehabilitative treatment was improved greatest in children with cerebral palsy of spasm type, but the smallest in those of mixed type. The improved GMFM total scores after rehabilitative treatment were significantly different among children with hemiplegia, diplegia and tetraplegia [(20.26 ± 11.79), (14.57 ± 9.87), (7.63 ± 4.11) points, F = 28.828, P <0.01], the improved score was the highest in those with hemiplegia , and the lowest in those with tetraplegia. CONCLUSION: Different clinical types and different involved sites of limbs may affect the effect of gross motor function recovery after rehabilitative interventions in children with cerebral palsy.