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Influence of gait pattern on the body's centre of mass displacement in children with cerebral palsy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2004

Firas Massaad
Affiliation:
Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Unit, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
Frédéric Dierick
Affiliation:
Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Unit, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
Adélaïde van den Hecke
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium.
Christine Detrembleur
Affiliation:
Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Unit, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
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Abstract

We assessed the influence of digitigrade gait pattern, topographical types, severity of motor involvement, and locomotor experience on the body's centre of mass (COM) displacement during gait in children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP). Three-dimensional COM displacements were computed from ground reaction forces in 51 independent digitigrade walkers (29 males, 22 females; mean age 10 years 6 months, SD 2 years 7 months, range 7 to 15 years). Results obtained from 10 participants without disabilities (five males, five females), in the same age range as the patients with CP, were used as a reference plantigrade group. Vertical and forward COM displacements were significantly different between the digitigrade and the plantigrade walkers. Neither the topographical type (quadriplegia, n=5; diplegia, n=20; right hemiplegia, n=13; left hemiplegia, n=13), nor the severity of motor involvement, nor the locomotor experience influenced COM displacements. We conclude that the COM displacement during gait in patients with CP was mainly influenced by the digitigrade gait pattern encountered in this neurological disorder rather than the different topographical types and motor involvements.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
© 2004 Mac Keith Press

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