ORTHOTICS BREAKTHROUGH HELPS CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY WALK AND PLAY

Children with cerebral palsy have more energy to play and be physically active for longer thanks to specially designed orthotics. Researchers have confirmed that adapting splints in combination with the footwear used by disabled children to help them walk can decrease the energy they use by as much as 33%. The clinical biomechanics team at Staffordshire University and the orthotics specialists from The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust examined the effectiveness of tuning the splint – footwear combination, using clinical trials with families in the West Midlands.

 

AFOs Help Children with Cerebral Palsy

 

During the study, the researchers analyzed the walking pattern of children with cerebral palsy at Staffordshire University’s specialist gait laboratory, and participants were assessed while barefoot and with both non-tuned and tuned splints. Children wearing the fine-tuned splints showed improvements in several areas including hip and pelvic function and knee extension, while a non-tuned splint potentially showed a decrease in hip function.

Courtesy of Barry Block, editor of PM News.