DOES WEARING AN ORTHOTIC DEVICE OF THE LOWER LIMB INFLUENCE THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF PATIENTS? A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Introduction: Wearing an orthotic device (OD) could allow patients to re-run the daily activities of the past and therefore could have a significant impact on quality of life (QOL), both positively and negatively.

However, at present no systematic literature review has investigated the QOL of lower limb OD users.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted for English papers in the online databases Pubmed and Web of Knowledge. Only studies where questionnaires were used in adult patients who are wearing an OD of the lower limb were included. Two researchers evaluated independently the studies for methodological quality. For assessing the RCTs the methodological checklist for randomised controlled trials (NICE, The guidelines manual 2009) was used and for assessing the non-randomized studies the ‘TREND Statement Checklist’ (The Trend Group 2004) was used.

Results: Ten studies (7 experimental studies, RCT’s and 3 pre-experimental studies, case series) with a methodological quality between 42.9% and 78.6% were included. In total, 700 patients were included with foot disorders (n=292, 4 studies), knee disorders (n=227, 2 studies) and neurological pathologies (n=181, 4 studies). In general, the use of an OD lead to a significant improvement or no significant change in the QOL of the patients. A significant decrease in QOL was never reported.

Conclusion: Wearing an OD of the lower limb may have a positive effect on the QOL. Further research is recommended in order to formulate more specific answers about the change in QOL when using an OD of the lower limb, this for specific pathologies.