Functional Splinting efficacy in a Specific Task Home Program for Children with Cerebral Palsy. A Randomized Controlled Trial

ABSTRACT

Background

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether wearing a functional hand splint adds benefit to carrying out a task-specific home program.

Methods

Thirty-three children were randomly assigned to the Specific Task and Splint Group or to a comparison group. Participants were evaluated before and after 6 weeks of intervention and at 14 weeks of follow-up.

Results

Both groups improved on the Assisting Hand Assessment and the Children’s Hand-use Experience Questionnaire (AHA Units p = .000; CHEQ bimanual tasks p = .000; CHEQ grasp efficacy p = .000 and CHEQ time utilization p = .018). No differences were found between the groups after the intervention or after the follow-up.

Conclusions

Hand skills improved in both groups who received a task-specific home program. Wearing a functional hand splint did not appear to improve effectiveness in addition to the home program. This study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03282422).

KEYWORDS:

• Home programs
• functional splint
• assisting hand assessment
• unilateral cerebral palsy

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge all the children and the families that participated in the study, as the clinical centers and therapists that collaborated in the recruitment and intervention processes.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors Contributions

PRP, MOL, and VAP were involved in the design of the study. PRP contributed to the execution of the study and collected the data. MOL performed data management and statistical analysis. PRP, MOL, VAP and ABE drafted the manuscript. ABE contributed to revise the paper. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript accepted for publication. And believe that the paper represents honest work.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17518423.2022.2099027

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.