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THE EFFICIENCY OF TONE-REDUCING FEATURES IN ORTHOTICS ON THE GAIT OF CHILDREN WITH SPASTIC DIPLEGIC CEREBRAL PALSY
ABOUT THIS ABSTRACT
Eight children aged 4-11 with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy were tested using three designs of AFOs and their baseline shoes-only. Standard gait analysis was accomplished using a high-resolution video analysis system, using six wall-mounted cameras. The three AFO designs included a standard hinged AFO, a tone-reducing AFO with tone-reducing features, and a supramalleolar orthosis with tone-reducing features. The eight children included three girls and five boys of an average age of 8.4 years.
The subjects were fitted with each design and given 4 weeks to accommodate to the design prior to testing. The same shoe that was used for the shoe-only phase was also used on each of three AFOs.
Results of gait evaluation revealed no measurable differences among any of the tone-reducing designs and either of the other control designs. The only measurable differences between the AFOs and the SMO and the shoes-only designs occurred at the ankle. As one might expect, there was more plantarflexion at heel strike with the shoe-only and the SMO than with the AFOs. The authors concluded that the tone-reducing features did not alter the gait appreciably when compared with the gait using the standard AFO. The authors conclude with a statement concerning caution in interpretation of these results since the number of subjects was only eight and that further studies including larger numbers of subjects could solidify these preliminary conclusions.
Donald G. Shurr CPO, PT
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Spring 2000 index