Psychometric Properties of Lower Limb Somatosensory Function and Body Awareness Outcome Measures in Children with Upper Motor Neuron Lesions: A Systematic Review.

Purpose: A systematic review of the psychometric properties and feasibility of outcome measures assessing lower limb somatosensory function and body awareness in children with upper motor neuron lesion.

Methods: We followed the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments guidelines. Two raters independently judged the quality and risk of bias of each study. Data synthesis was performed, and aspects of feasibility were extracted.

Results: Twelve studies investigated eleven somatosensory function measures quantifying four modalities and eight body awareness measures quantifying two modalities. The best evidence synthesis was very low to low for somatosensory function modalities and low for body awareness modalities. Few feasibility aspects were reported (e.g., the percentage or minimum age of participants able to perform the tests).

Conclusion: Current evidence on the psychometric characteristics of somatosensory function and body awareness outcome measures are relatively sparse. Further research on psychometric properties and practical application is needed.