Effects of inhibitive ankle-foot orthoses on standing balance in a child with cerebral palsy. A single-subject design.

A single-subject, alternating treatments design was conducted to evaluate the effects of inhibitive ankle-foot orthoses on standing balance in a 4.5-year-old boy with moderate spastic quadriplegia who had been wearing an initial pair of inhibitive orthoses for one year. Before introducing the subject to a newly fabricated but similarly designed pair of orthoses, we collected baseline data on the duration of standing balance without orthoses during five sessions over a two-week period. The new orthoses then were applied, and we collected data for standing balance for another two weeks (five sessions) under two treatment conditions: with and without orthoses. We also noted qualitative differences in symmetry of stance pattern and ease of maintaining standing balance for both conditions. Improvements were noted in duration of standing balance, symmetry of stance, and ease of maintaining standing balance during the "with-orthoses" condition. Although these results support the efficacy of inhibitive orthoses for children with cerebral palsy, further, systematic, single-subject research is indicated.