PTOtherPediatric physical therapy : the official publication of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy Association2024

Movement as a Gateway to Participation for Individuals With Neuromotor Conditions: A Scoping Review.

Megan B Flores, Melissa Moran Tovin, Simone V Gill and 1 others

PMID 38568271

WHAT IT FOUND

No consistent evidence showed movement opportunities improve participation at key transitions across 37 studies; findings were scattered by diagnosis, age, activity, and outcome measure.

Use individualized participation goals, but do not assume movement automatically increases participation.

Key findings

01No trends were found for participation improvements by developmental stage, transition point, or type of movement opportunity.

02Participation results were scattered: 10 studies showed clear improvement, 20 showed unclear or mixed results, and 7 showed no effect.

03None of the studies examined transition points from one age range to another as a variable for participation outcomes.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs

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What it does not show

The review did not focus on article quality or on the efficacy and effectiveness of interventions. Only English publications from 2001 to 2021 were included, so older or non-English evidence was missed. Participation was defined and measured inconsistently across studies, and many different outcomes and ICF-CY categories were used. No study treated transition from one age range to another as the variable being tested. Most included studies focused on children with cerebral palsy or autism spectrum disorder, and children with very low function were under-represented.

The easy way to misread this

Do not conclude that movement opportunities are proven to improve participation. The review found scattered results: 10 studies showed clear improvement, 20 showed unclear or mixed results, and 7 showed no effect. No study tested transition points as the variable.

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