The Effect of Short Thumb Splint on Hand Function in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Propose:Hand function is essential to activities of daily living for everyone, including individuals with cerebral palsy (CP). Individuals with hand dysfunction experience difficulties in self-care as well as educational, recreational, and fitness activities.Adequate first web space is essential for web space expansion, thumb abduction, and a wide range of thumb mobility and hand function activities. Hand dysfunction may have effects on quality of life. Dysfunction of the upper extremity is a common and debilitating consequence of cerebral palsy. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of short thumb Splint on hand function, and wrist and thumb range of motion of children with age range of 8 to 12 years with spastic cerebral palsy.
The design of this study was before- after clinical trials on fifteen cerebral palsy children selected from special school based on inclusion criteria. Patients used a short thumb Splint (40 degrees of palmar abduction of thumb) for 2 months (6-4 hours during a day and 6 to 8 hours at night). In this study box & block Hand Function Test was used to evaluate the hand function. Goniometric measurements of thumb were obtained in degrees to calculate the passive range of motion.
The results showed significant improvement in hand function (p=0.001), thumb range of motion (palmar and radial abductions) after Splinting (p=0.02) but did not reach statistical significance in wrist range of motion (p=0.054).
Our findings suggested that application of short thumb Splint in cerebral palsy children can improve hand function and enhance dominant hand thumb range of motion.