1Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdul-Aziz University
2Department of Physical Therapy for Neuromuscular Disorders and its Surgery, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University
3Department of Physiotherapy, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah
4Department of Physical Therapy for Paediatrics, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University, Egypt
Online published on 29 February, 2012.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of reciprocating gait orthosis (RGO) on standing balance in children with spastic diaplegic.
Twenty spastic diaplegic children were included (14 boys and 6 girls), with age ranged from five to seven years.
Children were divided randomly into two equal groups; experimental and control groups. The experimental group was subjected to physiotherapy training program with the use of RGO while the control group received only the physiotherapy program. Patients from both groups had the treatment once a day, three times a week for ten weeks. The measurements of the confidence ellipse width, confidence ellipse height, confidence ellipse angle, confidence ellipse area, horizontal and vertical deviations of centre of gravity (COG) were performed before and after the treatment to assess standing balance with open and closed eyes by means of stabilometric platform.
There were significant improvements in some measured test parameters in children of the experimental group compared to those of the control group. Conclusion: Reciprocating gait orthosis was effective in improving standing balance in children with spastic diaplegic cerebral palsy.
Cerebral palsy, Spastic diaplegia, Reciprocating gait orthosis, standing balance
