title: The efficacy of tone-reducing features in orthotics on the gait of children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.
abstract: This study analyzed the effects of tone-reducing features in ankle-foot orthotics (AFOs) on the gait of eight children (ages 4-11 years) with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. A standard gait analysis was performed on each subject in each of three trial orthotics and in a baseline shoes-only condition. A 4-week accommodation period was allotted for each of the three devices: a standard hinged AFO, an AFO with tone-reducing features, and a supramalleolar orthotic with tone-reducing features. Most significant differences were at the ankle, between free-ankle and plantar flexion-limiting conditions. No significant functional changes in gait were evident with the addition of tone-reducing properties to a standard articulating AFO.
authors.affiliation: Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, Delaware 19899, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crenshaw
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Castagno
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Michaloski
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moran
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000843:Ankle Joint; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D009126:Muscle Relaxation; D009128:Muscle Spasticity / Q000534:rehabilitation; D009129:Muscle Tonus; D009989:Orthotic Devices; D016896:Treatment Outcome