The potential for compression garments to influence upper limb function in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy

Alshehab, Mohammad A. H. A. M.

Abstract

Cerebral palsy (CP) is an umbrella term that describes a group of people with various motor, sensory and mental dysfunctions caused by permanent damage to the developing brain. Depending on the location and size of the brain damage, signs and symptoms of CP can vary in their distribution and severity. Unilateral spastic, or hemiplegic, CP is associated with deficit signs appearing on one side of the body, such as weakness, sensory dysfunction, and spasticity. Many interventions are used to improve functional performance, including noninvasive (e.g. rehabilitation sessions and orthotics) and invasive treatments (botulinum toxin injections and surgery). Pressure garments, also known as Lycra® garments, are often used to enhance patients’ sensory and motor performance.
The evidence available on the efficacy of such orthoses is very weak, mainly due to limitations in previous study designs, assessment methods and sample demographics. A holistic protocol have been developed to test the efficacy of pressure garments using clinical resources available at the upper limb clinic at Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital Trust. The holistic approach included measuring patients' motor and sensory function, their abilities to perform self-care tasks, and their abilities/satisfaction regarding their social integration and quality of life. In doing so, the efficacy of other clinical services the clinic provides have been evaluated to compare them to our findings. The COVID-19 global pandemic has interfered with the study implementation. After the pandemic, recruitment was halted, and most of the recruited participants did not attend post-intervention measurements. Thus, the focus of the project shifted to analysing the proposed protocol, and made administrative, logistical and clinical recommendations for future researchers. Also, all pre-measurements have been utilised to better understand the population of spastic hemiplegic CP.

Citation

Alshehab, M. A. H. A. M. The potential for compression garments to influence upper limb function in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy. (Thesis). Keele University. https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/530031

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jul 31, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 31, 2023
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/530031
• Award Date: 2023-07