THE EFFECT OF EXERCISE AND POSTURE TRAINING GIVEN TO MOTHERS WHO HAVE A CHILD WITH CEREBRAL PALSY ON MOTHERS' MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN

Purpose: To investigate the effect of exercise and posture training on musculoskeletal pain given to mothers with children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Methods: Mothers of children with all types of CP (18-55 years) were randomly divided into two groups: the Training group (n=30) and the Control group (n=30). The mothers in the Training group were given face-to-face exercise and posture training organized by the physiotherapist once for 60 minutes in person. After the training, the mothers in the group were followed remotely for six weeks. Results: The mean age of the children included was 6.63 +/- 3.65 years. While the pain severity of the control group did not change after training, pain severity decreased to 3.90 +/- 1.29 in the education group, and there was a significant difference between the groups. While there was a significant difference in pain severity in the intra-group analysis in the training group (p=0.001), there was no significant difference in the control group (p=0.072). After the training, the pain distribution of the last seven days decreased in the neck (p=0.001), shoulder (p=0.001), and back (p=0.001), while the control group did not change. Conclusion: Face-to-face given and remotely posture and exercise training to mothers with CP have been shown to reduce the pain severity of mothers and pain distribution in the neck, shoulder, and back regions.