Evaluation of performance and personal satisfaction of the patient with spastic hand after using a volar dorsal orthosis.

The performance and the satisfaction of the patient were quantitatively compared with the use of the volar dorsal orthosis in order to position the spastic hand. Thirty patients wearing the orthosis for eight hours daily were evaluated by the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure and the box and blocks test, for a three-month period. Five activities were selected (among daily life activities, productive activities, and leisure activities) by the patients, which were impaired by spasticity. There was an improvement related to performance after use of orthosis, with an average of 1.4 + or - 0.5 to 6.3 + or - 0.8 (p<0.01). Patient satisfaction average after wearing the orthosis was of 1.7 + or - 0.4 to 6.3 + or - 0.6 (p<0.01). In this casuistic, the use of orthosis for wrist and finger spasticity has shown an improvement in the functional performance and patient satisfaction.