Serial night casting increases ankle dorsiflexion range in children and young adults with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease: a randomised trial.

Question: Does 4 weeks of serial night casting followed by 4 weeks of stretching of the gastrocnemius and soleus improve ankle dorsiflexion range and other outcomes compared with no intervention in children and young adults with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease?

Design: Randomised trial with concealed allocation, assessor blinding, and intention-to-treat analysis.

Participants: 30 children and young adults with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and restricted ankle dorsiflexion range.

Intervention: The experimental group received 4 weeks of serial night casting followed by 4 weeks of weightbearing stretches. The control group received no intervention.

Outcome Measures: Primary outcome was ankle dorsiflexion range; secondary outcomes included foot deformity, mobility, balance, falls, and self-reported activity limitations. Outcomes were measured at baseline, 4, and 8 weeks.

Results: By 4 weeks, serial night casting had increased ankle dorsiflexion range by a mean of 4 deg (95% CI 2 to 6) more in the experimental group than the control group. After a further 4 weeks of weightbearing stretches, the experimental group still had a mean of 3 deg (95% CI 0 to 5) more ankle dorsiflexion range than the control group. Other than reduced time to walk 10 metres at self-selected pace favouring night casting at 4 weeks, outcomes did not differ between groups at any time point. Two minor adverse events were reported in the experimental group.

Conclusion: 4 weeks of serial night casting increased ankle dorsiflexion range compared with no intervention, but at 8 weeks there was no significant difference between groups.