INTERPRETATION In children with CP , h and splints may have a small benefit for upper limb skills .
However , results are diminished after splint wearing stops .
AIM The aim of this review was to determine the effectiveness of h and splinting for improving h and function in children with cerebral palsy ( CP ) and brain injury .
Immediate effect of a wrist and thumb brace on bimanual activities in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.
AIM The aim of this study was to determine the immediate effect of wearing a wrist and thumb brace on the performance of bimanual activities in children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy . METHOD In a pre- and post-test cohort study of 25 children ( age range 4 - 11y ; mean age 8y 4mo [ SD 2y 2mo ] ; 16 males , 9 females ) with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy with a Zancolli classification h and score of I , IIA , or IIB ( mild and moderate h and dysfunction ; children with a Zancolli classification of III - severe h and dysfunction - were excluded from this study ) , performance of bimanual activities was evaluated with the Assisting H and Assessment ( AHA ) on three occasions : one assessment with a static wrist and thumb brace placed on the affected h and and two other assessment s without a brace . The differences between AHA scores obtained at the three assessment s were evaluated using the repeated measures analysis of variance . RESULTS Performance of bimanual activities while wearing the brace improved significantly compared to performance without the brace ( p<0.001 ) . With the brace , the mean AHA score increased by 3.2 ( 95 % confidence interval 2.1 - 4.3 ) from 59.1 to 62.3 . The scores of the two assessment s without the brace did not differ significantly . INTERPRETATION In children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy , bracing of the wrist and thumb immediately improves spontaneous use of the affected upper limb in bimanual activities , possibly because bracing permits a more functional h and position
INTERPRETATION In children with CP , h and splints may have a small benefit for upper limb skills .
However , results are diminished after splint wearing stops .
AIM The aim of this review was to determine the effectiveness of h and splinting for improving h and function in children with cerebral palsy ( CP ) and brain injury .