The use of orthosis in children with cerebral palsy and the relationship between orthosis and functional status

Purpose: to determine the types of orthoses used by patients with cerebral palsy and to evaluate the relationship between cerebral palsy (cp) type and the gross motor function classification system (gmfcs) with the orthoses. material and methods: patients aged between 2 and 16 years who were diagnosed with cp were retrospectively evaluated and sixty patients with orthotic use were included in the study. age, sex, and orthosis were assessed. clinical classification was based on swedish classification. the gmfcs was used to classify the severity of impairment in gross motor functions of patients. results: the mean age of the patients was 88.05±50.44 months. 55% of the patients were female, 45% were male. 96.7% of the patients were spastic cp, 3.3% were dyskinetic type cp. according to gmfcs, there were at most kmfss-3 patients (35%). seven patients with gmfcs-1 had solid afo. three patients with gmfcs-2 had grafo and seven patients had solid afo. of the twenty-one patients with gmfcs-3, 3 had kafo, 2 had grafo, one had hinged afo and seventeen had solid afo. of the fifteen patients with gmfcs-4, 6 had kafo, one had grafo and 8 had solid afo. three patients with gmfcs-5 had kafo and 4 patients had solid afo. conclusion: the patients with gmfcs 1-2-3 had mostly use afo and grafo, approximately half of patients with gmfcs 4-5 had kafo. since the children in gmfcs 4-5 have limited self-movements and are often transported, it is expected that the use of kafo for positioning rather than walking afo.