Psychometric Properties of Lower Limb Somatosensory Function and Body Awareness Outcome Measures in Children with Upper Motor Neuron Lesions: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

Purpose

A systematic review of the psychometric properties and feasibility of outcome measures assessing lower limb somatosensory function and body awareness in children with upper motor neuron lesion.

Methods

We followed the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments guidelines. Two raters independently judged the quality and risk of bias of each study. Data synthesis was performed, and aspects of feasibility were extracted.

Results

Twelve studies investigated eleven somatosensory function measures quantifying four modalities and eight body awareness measures quantifying two modalities. The best evidence synthesis was very low to low for somatosensory function modalities and low for body awareness modalities. Few feasibility aspects were reported (e.g., the percentage or minimum age of participants able to perform the tests).

Conclusion

Current evidence on the psychometric characteristics of somatosensory function and body awareness outcome measures are relatively sparse. Further research on psychometric properties and practical application is needed.

KEYWORDS:

• Cerebral palsy
• neuromotor disorders
• clinimetrics
• rehabilitation

Acknowledgments

We thank the experts for their expertise and references for the validation process of the search filters: Susanne Löw, Beatrice Marth, Billy Cusick, Margret Mayston, Simone Elsig, and Hannu Luomajoki.

Disclosure Statement

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

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to thank the Anna Müller Grocholski Foundation, Switzerland, for their financial support.