title: Relationships among musculoskeletal impairments and functional health status in ambulatory cerebral palsy.
abstract: Orthopedic surgery for patients with cerebral palsy addresses motion impairments, assuming that this will improve motor function. This study evaluates the relationships among clinical impairment measures with standardized assessments of function and disability as an initial step in testing this assumption. A total of 129 ambulatory children and adolescents across six institutions participated in a prospective evaluation that consisted of passive motion and spasticity examination of the lower extremities, three-dimensional gait temporal-spatial and kinematic analysis, and administration of the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) and the Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument (PODCI). The analysis found that isolated impairment measures of motion and spasticity were only weakly related to motor function in cerebral palsy and even when averaged across multiple joints yielded no more than a fair correlation with functional scores, nor did a combination of impairments emerge that could predict substantial variance in motor function. These findings suggest that caution should be exercised when anticipating functional change through the treatment of isolated impairment and that addressing multiple impairments may be needed to produce appreciable effects.
authors.affiliation: Motion Analysis & Motor Performance Laboratory, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, USA. mfa2m@virginia.edu
authors.forename: Mark F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Abel
authors.forename: Diane L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Damiano
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Conaway
authors.forename: Freeman
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Kirk
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dabney
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sutherland
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chambers
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sarwark
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Killian
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.forename: Leon
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Root
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: LaPlaza
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Widmann
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Snyder
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis