Splints/orthotics in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Muggli E
Record ID 32003000703
English
Authors' objectives:

This aim of this report was to assess whether splints/orthotics improve function, range of motion and decrease pain and deformity in children with juvenile chronic arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JCA) or juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Authors' recommendations: - Three articles were reviewed that met inclusion and exclusion criteria. - These articles were exclusively before and after intervention case series. - One study assessed a night Seton skin traction (axis of tibea) combined with a daytime modified Engens extension orthosis. The children were aged between 12 months and six years. - Although orthoses were not adequately applied, night traction was used for sufficiently long periods of time in all patients. This resulted in a reduction of knee flexion contractures with an improvement in active as well as passive range of motion. - Two studies compared ready-made wrist splints (Tweeklon or Droitwich) with custom-made orthoplast cock-up splints. The children in one study were aged between 4 and 16 years and in the other, they were over 12 years old. Overall ready-made splints and custom-made splints resulted in an improvement of dexterity. - One study reported that both splints (Droitwich plus custom-made) corrected ulnar deviation another study, which used the Tweeklon plus a custom-made splint, reported no effect on ulnar deviation. - The studies did not assess any effect on pain, however one study reported that pain was not a prominent feature.
Authors' methods: Review
Details
Project Status: Completed
Year Published: 2002
English language abstract: An English language summary is available
Publication Type: Not Assigned
Country: Australia
MeSH Terms
  • Arthritis
  • Child
  • Orthotic Devices
  • Splints
Contact
Organisation Name: Centre for Clinical Effectiveness
Contact Address: Monash Institute of Health Services Research, Block E, Monash Medical Centre, Locked Bag 29, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia. Tel: +61 3 9594 7505; Fax: +61 3 9594 7552.
Contact Name: cce@med.monash.edu.au.
Contact Email: cce@med.monash.edu.au.
Copyright: Centre for Clinical Effectiveness (CCE)
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.