Introduction: Cerebral palsy is a neurological-developmental disorder characterized by changes in muscle tone, impaired movement, and motor skills. Although it is mostly a movement disorder, many children with cerebral palsy also have other impairments. Dance therapy is the use of movement to promote the emotional, social, cognitive and physical integration of individuals, with the goal of improving health and well-being. Purpose: To determine the effects of dance therapy on children and adolescents with cerebral palsy. Methods: We reviewed literature written in English in PubMed (Medline), PEDro, Cinahl and Cochrane Library data bases. Results: The review included seven studies that met the inclusion criteria. A total of 147 subjects were included in the studies. Their average age was between 8 and 18 years. Training period lasted from three to 80 weeks, with a frequency of sessions one to three times a week. Research findings show that despite the use of various dance techniques, there has been an improvement in functional independence, emotions, passive lower limb mobility, walking, social interaction, balance, quality of life and rhythm. Discussion and conclusion: The findings of the literature review indicate the potential benefit of dance therapy for the improvement of motor functions and social and behavioural disorders in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy. Due to a small number of studies in this field, further research is needed with larger and more homogeneous samples, inclusion of long-term effects and in which unity measurement would be used. In the future, it would be advisable to compare the effectiveness of different dance techniques.
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