OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of an eight-week strength training program targeting multiple muscle groups using basic inexpensive free weights and resistance devices, on gait and perceptions of body image and functional competence. DESIGN: A randomized control trial. SETTING: A school for children with special needs in a disadvantaged suburb in Cape Town. SUBJECTS: Thirty-one independently ambulant senior learners with spastic cerebral palsy (19 males, 12 females; aged 13 to 18 years; 15 diplegics and 16 hemiplegics). INTERVENTION: Eight-week strength training programme in circuit format executed during school hours, one to three times per week for 40 to 60 min per session. Programmes were individually designed and included 8 to 12 exercises selected from a 28-station circuit to target upper and lower limbs and trunk. Twenty-one subjects took part in the strength training programme and were compared with 10 control subjects. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Three-dimensional gait analysis and a questionnaire were used to evaluate the various parameters of gait and perceptions of body image and functional competence respectively. Results were analysed using repeated measures ANOVA and bootstrap analysis. RESULTS: The experimental group differed significantly from the control group for measure of crouch gait (sum of the ankle, knee and hip angles at midstance) (p = 0.05) and perceptions of body image (p = 0.01). Walking velocity, cadence and stride length as well as perceptions of functional ability did not change significantly after training. CONCLUSION: Participation in a school-based strength training programme targeting multiple muscle groups can lead to improved degree of crouch gait and improve perception of body image.

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