Pediatric Physical Therapy published a systemic review on the efficacy and evidence of using orthoses for children with hypotonia. Ten articles met the inclusion criteria although none were Level I evidence (evidence from properly designed randomized controlled trials). The results found that data was reported for body structure and activity components, but not participation outcomes. […]
A single subject, alternating treatment design was used to analyze the effectiveness of two different supramalleolar orthotics. Two children with Down syndrome each participated in three phases: without orthotics, SureStep orthotic and the DAFO #4 orthotic. Using the Gross Motor Function Measure, results indicated improvements in both children with the SureStep orthotic and child #1 […]
Gait and Posture published research comparing heel lifts (10, 20 and 30mm) heights in 32 children with cerebral palsy, arthrogryposis and a control group. The cerebral palsy and arthrogryposis groups showed significant changes in the ankle, knee and pelvis whereas the control group only showed significant changes at the ankle. The higher the heel height […]
The Spring 2011 issue of Pediatric Physical Therapy published an interesting study on the use of supramalleolar orthoses and how they affect upper extremity use. Seventeen children with Down Syndrome were divided into two groups of treadmill training – one group of children wore supramalleolar orthoses and the other group did not. Both groups of […]
Physical Therapy published research on the use of supramalleolar orthosis (SMO) and treadmill training in infants with Down Syndrome. Seventeen infants were assigned to treadmill training with SMO’s or treadmill training without SMO’s. The infants received 3 minutes of treadmill training until the infant was able to take 3 steps independently. One month following the […]
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery published research on the use of a floor reaction ankle foot orthoses (AFO’s) on children with cerebral palsy (CP). Using gait analysis, the researchers determined that the AFO’s restricted sagittal plane motion (left to right motion)which results in improvements in knee extension. The best results were seen in […]