Effect of Supramalleolar Orthosis on Balance in Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy Children with Pronated Feet

Background: Foot is a very important structure to achieve postural stability according to its structure and shape, so any mechanical disturbance to the foot will cause postural instability. The purpose of this study was to compare between the effect of unilateral and bilateral supramalleolar orthosis on balance in hemiparetic cerebral palsy children with pronated feet.Subjects and Methods: Thirty hemiparetic cerebral palsy children from both sexes ranged in age from six to ten years participated in this study. They were assigned randomly into two groups of equal numbers, Group (A) children were managed with unilateral supramalleolar orthosis and Group (B) children were managed with bilateral Supramalleolar orthosis. Each patient of the two groups was evaluated before and after using the supramalleolar orthosis by Biodex Balance System in laboratory of balance in faculty of physical therapy (antero posterior, medio lateral and overall stability). Patients in both groups received traditional physical therapy program for one hour per day and three sessions per week and were instructed to wear the orthosis for eighteen hours per day for six weeks.Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in all measured variables before wearing the orthosis (p 0.05), while there was significant difference when comparing pre and post mean values of all measured variables in each group (p 0.01). When comparing post mean values between both groups, the results revealed significant improvement in favor of Group (B) (p 0.01).Conclusion: Bilateral supramalleolar orthosis is an effective orthosis to improve balance in hemiparetic cerebral palsy children with pronated feet.