Article

Studies which have examined the effects of ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) on children
with cerebral palsy (CP) often report insufficient detail about the participants,
devices and testing protocols. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate
the level and quality of detail reported about these factors in order to generate
best practice guidelines for reporting of future studies.
A systematic search of
the literature was conducted to identify studies which examined any outcome
measure relating to AFO use in children with CP. A customized checklist was
developed for data extraction and quality assessment. There was substantial
variability in the level and quality of detail reported across the 41-paper
yield. Many papers reported insufficient detail to allow synthesis of outcomes
across studies. The findings of this review have been used to generate guidelines
for best practice of reporting for AFO intervention studies. It is important to
ensure homogeneity of gait pattern in a subject sample or to subdivide a sample
to investigate the possibility that heterogeneity affected results. It is also
important to describe the orthosis in sufficient detail that the device can be
accurately replicated because differences in designs have been shown to affect
outcomes. These guidelines will help researchers provide more systematic and
detailed reports and thereby permit future reviewers to more accurately assess
both the reporting and quality of orthotic interventions, and will facilitate
synthesis of literature to enhance the evidence base.

Langue : ANGLAIS