Objective: To compare the effectiveness of posterior wheeled walker and anterior wheeled walker on activities of daily living and instrumented activities of daily living during rehabilitation of patients with spastic diaplegic cerebral palsy
Methodology: This randomized control trial was conducted at out-patient department of Rafsan Neurological Rehabilitation Center, Peshawar from June 2011 to may 2012. Spastic diaplegic cerebral palsy patients of both gender with age ranged from 2-8 years were included and patients with other types of cerebral palsy or age less than 2 year and more than 8 years were excluded. A total of 72 patients were selected and randomly placed into two groups, 16 in experimental and 16 control group. The patients in experimental group were treated with posterior wheeled walker, ankle foot orthosis (AFO), stretching of tight musculatures, and weight bearing. The patients in the control group were treated with anterior wheeled walker, AFO, stretching of tight musculatures, and weight bearing. All the patients were rehabilitated for one year and assessed at baseline, and after each trimester on specially designed 60 points Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) chart. The data were analyzed on SPSS version 17.
Results: The patients in experimental group showed more improvement in ADL and IADL chart score (70%) as compared with the patients in the control group (40%) (p=0.007).
Conclusion: The posterior wheeled walker improved ADL and IADL more than anterior wheeled walker while combined with AFO, stretching of tight musculatures, and weight bearing during the rehabilitation of spastic diaplegic cerebral palsy patients.
Key words: Cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia, posterior wheeled walker, anterior wheeled walker.
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