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Gait pattern differences between children with mild scoliosis and children with unilateral cerebral palsy.

ABSTRACT: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of asymmetrical body posture alone, i.e., the effects seen in children with mild scoliosis, vs. the effects of body posture control impairment, i.e., those seen in children with unilateral cerebral palsy on gait patterns. Three-dimensional instrumented gait analysis (3DGA) was conducted in 45 children with hemiplegia and 51 children with mild scoliosis. All the children were able to walk without assistance devices. A set of 35 selected spatiotemporal gait and kinematics parameters were evaluated when subjects walked on a treadmill. A cluster analysis revealed 3 different gait patterns: a scoliotic gait pattern and 2 different hemiplegic gait patterns. The results showed that the discrepancy in gait patterns was not simply a lower limb kinematic deviation in the sagittal plane, as expected. Additional altered kinematics, such as pelvic misorientation in the coronal plane in both the stance and swing phases and inadequate stance phase hip ad/abduction, which resulted from postural pattern features, were distinguished between the 3 gait patterns. Our study provides evidence for a strong correlation between postural and gait patterns in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Information on differences in gait patterns may be used to improve the guidelines for early therapy for children with hemiplegia before abnormal gait patterns are fully established. The gait pathology characteristic of scoliotic children is a potential new direction for treating scoliosis that complements the standard posture and walking control therapy exercises with the use of biofeedback.

SUBMITTER: Domagalska-Szopa M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4121082 | biostudies-other | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:Children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP) walk independently although with an asymmetrical, more poorly coordinated pattern compared to their peers. While gait biomechanics in unilateral CP and their alteration from those without CP have been well documented, cortical mechanisms underlying gait remain inadequately understood. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study utilizing electroencephalography (EEG) during treadmill gait in older children with and without CP. Lower limb surface electromyographic (EMG) data were collected and muscle synergy analyses performed to quantify motor output. Our primary goal was to evaluate the relationships between cortical and muscle activation within and across groups and hemispheres to provide novel insights into neural control of gait and how it may be disrupted by an early unilateral brain injury. Participants included 9 children with unilateral CP, mean age 16.0 ± 2.7 years, and 12 with typical development (TD), mean age 14.8 ± 3.0 years. EEG data were collected during a standing baseline and treadmill walking at self-selected speed. EMG of 16 lower limb muscles were also collected bilaterally and synchronized with EEG. No significant group differences were found in synergy number or structure across groups. Six cortical clusters were identified as having gait-related activation and all contained participants from both CP and TD groups; however, the percent of individuals per group appearing in different clusters varied. Notably, the cluster least represented in CP was the non-dominant motor region. Both groups showed mu-band ERD in the motor clusters during gait although sustained beta-band ERD was not evident in TD. The CP group showed greater cortical activation than TD during walking as measured by mu- and beta-ERD in the dominant and non-dominant motor and parietal regions and elevated low gamma-activity in the frontal and parietal areas, a unique finding in CP. CP showed greater bilateral motor EEG-EMG coherence in the gamma-band with the hallucis longus compared to TD. In summary, individuals with CP display increased cortical activation during gait possibly relating to differences in distal motor control of the more affected side. Strategies that iteratively reduce cortical activation while improving selective motor control are needed in CP.

Project description:Experts recently identified 49 joint motion patterns in children with cerebral palsy during a Delphi consensus study. Pattern definitions were therefore the result of subjective expert opinion. The present study aims to provide objective, quantitative data supporting the identification of these consensus-based patterns. To do so, statistical parametric mapping was used to compare the mean kinematic waveforms of 154 trials of typically developing children (n = 56) to the mean kinematic waveforms of 1719 trials of children with cerebral palsy (n = 356), which were classified following the classification rules of the Delphi study. Three hypotheses stated that: (a) joint motion patterns with 'no or minor gait deviations' (n = 11 patterns) do not differ significantly from the gait pattern of typically developing children; (b) all other pathological joint motion patterns (n = 38 patterns) differ from typically developing gait and the locations of difference within the gait cycle, highlighted by statistical parametric mapping, concur with the consensus-based classification rules. (c) all joint motion patterns at the level of each joint (n = 49 patterns) differ from each other during at least one phase of the gait cycle. Results showed that: (a) ten patterns with 'no or minor gait deviations' differed somewhat unexpectedly from typically developing gait, but these differences were generally small (?3°); (b) all other joint motion patterns (n = 38) differed from typically developing gait and the significant locations within the gait cycle that were indicated by the statistical analyses, coincided well with the classification rules; (c) joint motion patterns at the level of each joint significantly differed from each other, apart from two sagittal plane pelvic patterns. In addition to these results, for several joints, statistical analyses indicated other significant areas during the gait cycle that were not included in the pattern definitions of the consensus study. Based on these findings, suggestions to improve pattern definitions were made.

Project description:Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) show the postural constraints while standing, and gait disorders, resulting from both primary and secondary impairments of brain injury. In our previous studies, several characteristic postural and gait patterns in children with unilateral as well as with bilateral CP were defined, and the relationship between these patterns was demonstrated. The purpose of present study was to identify which features of body posture deviation during standing were strongly related to gait deviations in independently ambulatory children with CP. For this aim we explored the cross-relationship between features of body posture while standing examined by surface topography and the selected gait parameters from three-dimensional instrumented gait analysis in one hundred twenty children with cerebral palsy, aged between 7 and 13 years, who were able to walk independently. First, our study documented that that sagittal misalignment of the spine curvature was significantly related to kinematic deviations such as deviations of pelvic tilt, inadequate swing phase and knee flexion, and peak dorsiflexion in stance. Second, the study shows that the static asymmetry of pelvis and trunk was significantly associated with kinematic deviations during gait cycle such as pelvic rotation, hip abduction in swing, ROM of knee flexion, peak dorsiflexion in stance. Based on obtained results and referring to our previous findings it can be assumed that the first model of the relationship between postural deviation and gait disturbances, called 'postural and gait complex of disorders in sagittal plane', is related to children with bilateral CP, whereas the second model 'postural and gait complex of disorders in coronal plane' to children with unilateral CP. The clinical applications of this study relate to the early recognition of particular features of postural deviation using surface topography, instead of more difficult and demanding expensive tools 3-D gait analysis.

Project description:Upper body movements during walking provide information about balance control and gait stability. Typically developing (TD) children normally present a progressive decrease of accelerations from the pelvis to the head, whereas children with cerebral palsy (CP) exhibit a general increase of upper body accelerations. However, the literature describing how they are transmitted from the pelvis to the head is lacking. This study proposes a multilevel motion sensor approach to characterize upper body accelerations and how they propagate from pelvis to head in children with CP, comparing with their TD peers. Two age- and gender-matched groups of 20 children performed a 10m walking test at self-selected speed while wearing three magneto-inertial sensors located at pelvis, sternum, and head levels. The root mean square value of the accelerations at each level was computed in a local anatomical frame and its variation from lower to upper levels was described using attenuation coefficients. Between-group differences were assessed performing an ANCOVA, while the mutual dependence between acceleration components and the relationship between biomechanical parameters and typical clinical scores were investigated using Regression Analysis and Spearman's Correlation, respectively (? = 0.05). New insights were obtained on how the CP group managed the transmission of accelerations through the upper body. Despite a significant reduction of the acceleration from pelvis to sternum, children with CP do not compensate for large accelerations, which are greater than in TD children. Furthermore, those with CP showed negative sternum-to-head attenuations, in agreement with the documented rigidity of the head-trunk system observed in this population. In addition, the estimated parameters proved to correlate with the scores used in daily clinical practice. The proposed multilevel approach was fruitful in highlighting CP-TD gait differences, supported the in-field quantitative gait assessment in children with CP and might prove beneficial to designing innovative intervention protocols based on pelvis stabilization.

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Gait pattern differences between children with mild scoliosis and children with unilateral cerebral palsy.

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