Journal of Physical Therapy Science
Online ISSN : 2187-5626
Print ISSN : 0915-5287
ISSN-L : 0915-5287
Original Article
The effect of wearing night splints for one year on the standing motor function of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Hitomi NishizawaAyumi MatsukiyoNaoko ShibaMasayoshi KoinumaAkinori Nakamura
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2018 Volume 30 Issue 4 Pages 576-579

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Abstract

[Purpose] To investigate the effect of night splints on the standing motor function and ankle dorsiflexion angles of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). [Subjects and Methods] Nine boys (age <11 years) with DMD were divided into the sufficiently-wearing group and the insufficiently-wearing group, according to how often they wore their splint for one year. We evaluated the changes between the pre-implementation and the one-year-after assessments of both the sufficiently-wearing group and the insufficiently-wearing group for the ankle dorsiflexion angle, North Star Ambulatory Assessment, 10-m running time, and time to stand from the floor. [Results] Only the left dorsiflexion angle of the ankle showed significantly difference for the sufficiently-wearing group. For other indicators, there were tendency toward improvement and maintenance in the sufficiently-wearing group. [Conclusion] The standing motor function improved significantly in some patients in the sufficiently-wearing group, suggesting that wearing night splints may promote the improvement and/or maintain of standing motor function in patients with DMD.

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© 2018 by the Society of Physical Therapy Science. Published by IPEC Inc.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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