The effect of neoprene thumb abductor splints on upper limb function in children with cerebral palsy.

Abstract

Hand function deficits are associated with Cerebral Palsy (CP), and lead to diminished participation in activities of daily living (ADL’s), play and school. A longitudinal experiment incorporating a pre-test-post-test design was used with a convenience sample of 28 children with spastic quadriplegic CP randomly assigned to two groups. Both groups received monthly occupational therapy and a home programme over the three month period, the intervention group received an additional neoprene thumb abductor splint. The Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test (QUEST) was administered at baseline and again at 3 months to assess changes in underlying impairments contributing to hand function. There were no statistically significant differences between final scores in the control and intervention groups, but a clinically significant improvement in score with the splint on for the intervention group was found. Wearing the splint during functional tasks may be beneficial in improving underlying impairments.