A scoping literature review of studies assessing effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of prosthetic and orthotic interventions.

Approximately 1.5% of the world's population (∼100 million people) need a prosthesis/orthosis. The objective of the study was to establish an overview of the literature that has examined prosthetic and orthotic interventions with a view to inform policy development.

A systematic review of randomised controlled trials assessing effectiveness of prosthetic and orthotic interventions.

Background: Assistive products are items which allow older people and people with disabilities to be able to live a healthy, productive and dignified life. It has been estimated that approximately 1.5% of the world's population need a prosthesis or orthosis.

An algorithm was developed to assign GRADE levels of evidence to comparisons within systematic reviews.

Objectives: One recommended use of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach is supporting quality assessment of evidence of comparisons included within a Cochrane overview of reviews. Within our overview, reviewers found that current GRADE guidance was insufficient to make reliable and consistent judgments. To support our ratings, we developed an algorithm to grade quality of evidence using concrete rules.

Interventions for improving upper limb function after stroke.

Background: Improving upper limb function is a core element of stroke rehabilitation needed to maximise patient outcomes and reduce disability. Evidence about effects of individual treatment techniques and modalities is synthesised within many reviews. For selection of effective rehabilitation treatment, the relative effectiveness of interventions must be known.

Assistive technologies: can they contribute to rehabilitation of the upper limb after stroke?

Objective: To systematically identify, review, and explore the evidence for use of assistive technologies (ATs) in poststroke upper limb rehabilitation.

Data Sources: AMED, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Compendex, CSA Illumina, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PEDro, PyscINFO, and Web of Science were last searched in September 2011.

Study Selection: Two independent researchers screened for inclusion criteria (adult poststroke subjects, upper limb rehabilitation with an AT).

Assessment of the risk of bias in rehabilitation reviews.

Systematic reviews are used to inform practice, and develop guidelines and protocols. A questionnaire to quantify the risk of bias in systematic reviews, the review paper assessment (RPA) tool, was developed and tested. A search of electronic databases provided a data set of review articles that were then independently reviewed by two assessors using the RPA.

The combined effect of Dynamic splinting and Neuromuscular electrical stimulation in reducing wrist and elbow contractures in six children with Cerebral palsy.

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the feasibility of applying the combination of Dynamic splinting (DS) and Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) in order to improve wrist and elbow function, and range of motion, in children with upper limb contractures due to Cerebral palsy (CP). Six children aged seven to 16, with contractures at the wrist or elbow, were recruited. Following a 12-week baseline period all participants underwent a 12-week treatment period where DS was used for one hour per day and combined with NMES for the second half of the 1-h treatment.

Developing a technique to measure intra-limb coordination in gait: applicable to children with cerebral palsy.

Lower limb intra-limb coordination was investigated using sagittal plane kinematic data extracted from gait data recorded using a Vicon system (Vicon Motion Systems Ltd., Oxford, UK) of 20 normal (N) and 20 children with cerebral palsy (CP). Walking speed, maximum and minimum flexion and range of motion (ROM) were calculated.

Key factors in the development of lower limb co-ordination: implications for the acquisition of walking in children with cerebral palsy.

Purpose: This paper explores differences in walking development between normal children and those with cerebral palsy and discusses their clinical implications.

Method: A literature review (MEDLINE, RECAL) of walking development in normal children and those with cerebral palsy, including the use of walking aids.

Results: Normal neonates display reflexive stepping, at 8 months supported walking and then independent walking emerge at about 12 months.