Kinesiotaping versus Wrist Wheel on Upper Extremity Functions in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Background: Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy (UCP) usually have obvious impairment of hand function and limited active supination, which causes restrictions of upper extremity functions. Objective: This aimed to compare between Kinesiotaping and wrist wheel effect on forearm supination range of motion and its reflection on functions of upper limb in children with UCP. Patients and Methods: Forty-eight children with UCP their age from 6 to 8 years were divided randomly into 2 groups with twenty-four in each, Kinesiotaping (KT) and Wrist Wheel (WW). KT group children were treated by a designed physical therapy program after forearm Kinesiotaping application, while children in WW group were treated by the same designed physical therapy program while using wrist wheel. Treatment program was conducted for three successive months at frequency of 3 sessions per week. Before the commencement and after the study completion forearm supination range of motion was measured using digital goniometer and Shriners Hospital Upper Extremity scale was used to evaluate upper extremity functions in the affected upper limb. Results: A statistically significant change was observed in each group after treatment application when comparing before and post treatment mean values (P < 0.001). Also, a statistically significant change was noticed when comparing after treatment results between both groups in favor to wrist wheel group. Conclusion: Both Kinesiotaping and Wrist Wheel can improve supination ROM and upper extremity functions of children with UCP, with more effectiveness to Wrist Wheel.

Efficacy of Kinesiotape to Improve Upper-Extremity Function in Children and Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review

“…Of the 21 studies selected to assess their eligibility for a full-text reading, 11 studies were discarded due to not accomplishing the criteria of study design (pilot studies, posters, conference abstracts, clinical trial registries), 3 studies were discarded because the aims were irrelevant for the review and 2 studies were discarded because they were written in a language other than Spanish or English. Therefore, 16 studies were excluded, and the final sample was of five articles [28][29][30][31][32]. The selection process is shown in the flowchart seen in Figure 1.…”

“…final sample was of five articles [28][29][30][31][32]. The selection process is shown in the flowchart seen in Figure 1.…”

“…The studies included samples of children and adolescents diagnosed with CP at ages between 3 and 18 years old. The sample of three studies [28,29,32] included 97 children with hemiparesia, 21 quadriparietic, four diparetic and one triparetic subjects; a study [30] did not provide this information; another study [31] indicated bilateral involvement in 14 subjects, right upper extremity (RUE) in six subjects, and left upper extremity (LUE) in ten subjects.…”

“…Four studies [28,29,31,32] applied KT to the hand, wrist or forearm of the affected UE, and one study [30] applied it to the shoulder. Three studies [28][29][30] described KT as the unique intervention, while the other two studies [31,32] combined it with other PT techniques, such as neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NES) for wrist extensors [31]; and wrist wheel (WW) on forearm supination ROM [32]. Subjects in CG received no intervention [29,30] or received a placebo [28].…”

“…Subjects in CG received no intervention [29,30] or received a placebo [28]. The number of sessions were from 1-2 [28][29][30] to 20-36 sessions [31,32], and they included pre-and post-intervention assessment [28][29][30][31], short-term (two-day) post-intervention follow-up [28] and 3 months post-intervention follow-up [32]. The session duration was in the range of 20-45 min.…”