Spatiotemporal and Joint Kinematic Analyses in Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy Children during Stance Phase

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify and quantify spatiotemporal and joint kinematics in hemiparetic cerebral palsy children by three dimensional gait analysis (3DGA). Gait strategy of 36 Hemiparetic and 31 healthy children was quantified by the new anatomically based protocol of 3DGA. Spatiotemporal and joint kinematics of lower limbs were identified and calculated. Results revealed that, the gait pattern of the paretic and non paretic sides of hemiparetic children were different compared to healthy subjects. Shorter stance phase was noted on the paretic side compared to non paretic and healthy subjects (Plt;0.05). Hemiparetic children walked with significantly reduced velocity, stride length, step length and cadence compared to healthy subjects. However step width increased considerably in the hemiparetics compared to healthy children. Joint kinematics during stance indicated that hemiparetic children walked with significantly increased anterior trunk tilt, pelvic tilt and pelvic retraction compared to healthy subjects (Plt;0.05). Nevertheless; hemiparetics displayed higher values of hip flexion than healthy subjects with reduction of both knee flexion and ankle dorsal flexion abilities on the paretic side than non paretic. To conclude, Hemiparetic cerebral palsy children generally present a unique motor strategy due to the pathology and search of better stability to optimize gait.The aim of this study is to identify and quantify spatiotemporal and joint kinematics in hemiparetic cerebral palsy children by three dimensional gait analysis (3DGA). Gait strategy of 36 Hemiparetic and 31 healthy children was quantified by the new anatomically based protocol of 3DGA. Spatiotemporal and joint kinematics of lower limbs were identified and calculated. Results revealed that, the gait pattern of the paretic and non paretic sides of hemiparetic children were different compared to healthy subjects. Shorter stance phase was noted on the paretic side compared to non paretic and hea