Indian Journal of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy - An International Journal
  • Year: 2011
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue: 3

Effect of Ankle Foot Orthosis on Plantar-flexor Tone and Gross Motor Functional Abilities in Children with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

  • Author:
  • Meenakshi Batra1, Vijai Prakash Sharma2, Vijay Batra3, Gyanendra Kumar Malik4, Girdhar Gopal Agarwal5
  • Total Page Count: 5
  • Page Number: 170 to 174

1Department of PMR, RALC, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation and Artificial Limb Centre (RALC), Nabiullah Road, Near Daliganj Bridge, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, Lucknow-226018, Uttar Pradesh, India,

2Department of PMR, RALC, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation and Artificial Limb Centre (RALC), Nabiullah Road, Near Daliganj Bridge, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, Lucknow-226018, Uttar Pradesh, India,

3Department of PMR, RALC, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation and Artificial Limb Centre (RALC), Nabiullah Road, Near Daliganj Bridge, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, Lucknow-226018, Uttar Pradesh, India,

4Department of PMR, RALC, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation and Artificial Limb Centre (RALC), Nabiullah Road, Near Daliganj Bridge, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, Lucknow-226018, Uttar Pradesh, India,

5Department of Statistics, Lucknow university, Lucknow-226007

Online published on 1 October, 2011.

Abstract

To see the effectiveness of Ankle Foot Orthosis on plantar-flexor tone and gross motor functional abilities in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy

A total of 30 subjects coming to OPD, Dept of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Paediatrics with a diagnosis of hemiplegic cerebral palsy were included and baseline evaluation was done for tone in ankle and lower extremity (using MAS) and gross motor functional abilities (using GMFM-66). The subjects were allocated equally among group A and group B by convenient sampling scheme with 15 subjects each. In group A, Ankle Foot orthosis (AFO) along with conventional therapy and in group B, conventional treatment with no Ankle Foot orthosis were used for a period of 3 months followed by re-evaluation. Result: The two groups were compared for their scores. These were found to be statistically significant with p value ranging from. 003 to <. 0001. Conclusions: It can be concluded that Ankle Foot orthosis (AFO) helps in normalizing the tone in ankle (plantar-flexors) and lower extremity and can be used as an adjunct to the treatment/therapeutic process to enhance gross motor functional abilities in hemiplegic cerebral palsy children.

Keywords

Cerebral Palsy, Tone, Ankle foot orthosis, Postural reaction, Postural control, Gross motor functional abilities