Year: 2024 | Month: October | Volume: 14 | Issue: 10 | Pages: 86-95
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20241011
A Comprehensive Review of Recent Advancements in Lower Extremity Orthoses and their Impact on Gait in Children with Cerebral Palsy
Shreya Sharma1, Shivangi Mehra2, Sakshi Saharawat2
1Student, BPO, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre- Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences, New Delhi, India
2Assistant Professor, MPO, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre- Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences, New Delhi, India
Corresponding Author: Shreya Sharma
ABSTRACT
Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of neurological disorders that affect movement, muscle tone, and motor skills. Recent advancements in gait analysis and treatment have significantly improved the diagnosis and management of cerebral palsy.
Objective: The objective of this literature review is to assess and evaluate the recent trends observing the effect of lower limb orthoses on gait parameters among children with Cerebral Palsy in order to attain a better knowledge which can be implemented in improvising the treatment protocol in terms of orthoses for Children with Cerebral Palsy.
Methodology: PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of knowledge, Cochrane library, EMBASE and Google Scholar were searched for articles published between 2008 and 2023 of studies of children with CP wearing the AFOs. Outcomes investigated with a recent advancement in orthoses in last 15 years to encourage the treatment procedure.
Result: The review of fifteen studies involving 4361 children with cerebral palsy (CP) found that ankle foot orthoses, such as SAFO, SMO, PLS, FRAFO, and Thera suit, can improve gait parameters, walking speed, stride length, knee and ankle range of motion, and reduce energy consumption during the gait cycle. However, the efficacy of rehabilitation interventions for children with CP remains inconclusive. Most authors suggest that AFO can influence or help in postural control, while one study suggested that FRAFO can improve knee alignment but may not be helpful in improving postural control.
Conclusion: Overall orthoses can improve kinematics, kinetics & spatial temporal parameters of gait among patients with cerebral palsy.
Key words: Cerebral Palsy, Gait, Lower Extremity Orthoses- AFO, SAFO, HAFO, DAFO, SMO, FRAFO, PLS, Therasuit.