OBJECTIVES: to perform a systematic literature review through a careful survey of scientific articles investigating serial casting effects in children clinically diagnosed with spastic cerebral palsy. METHODS: systematic literature survey performed during the period of March to August 2004, in Medline, Lilacs and PEDro electronic databases published in English and Portuguese from 1980 to 2004. The evidence level of the articles studied was rated according to the Magee scale. RESULTS: the four articles included in this review met all the inclusion criteria and were rated poor according to the Magee scale (agreement index Kappa K = 1.0) due to the methodological limitations determined. CONCLUSIONS: the evidence used in this systematic review was insufficient to support the use of serial casting in children with cerebral palsy. Further research is required to fulfill the need of higher methodological standards to validate evidence based practice.
Cerebral palsy; Physcal therapy techniques; Child
