title: Stability and harmony of gait in children with cerebral palsy.
abstract: The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess the stability and harmony of gait in children with cerebral palsy. Seventeen children with spastic hemiplegia due to cerebral palsy (5.0±2.3 years old) who were able to walk autonomously and seventeen age-matched children with typical development (5.7±2.5 years old, p=0.391) performed a 10-m walking test with a wearable device fixed to their lower trunk and included a triaxial accelerometer and three gyroscopes. Three parameters related to gait stability and three related to gait harmony were computed; all of these yielded significant differences between children with cerebral palsy and those with typical development (p<0.020 for all the computed parameters). In the latter group of children, trunk accelerations were found to be negatively correlated with age (partial correlation controlled for walking speed: R(p)<-0.58, p>0.020). Conversely, in children with cerebral palsy, the upper body accelerations were proportionally correlated with their gait speed (R=0.548, p=0.023 in the antero-posterior direction) but not with their age (p>0.05). This finding can be related both to difficulties in managing the higher upper body accelerations involved in rapid walking and to compensation strategies.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Laboratory of Experimental Neurorehabilitation, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, Rome, Italy. m.iosa@hsantalucia.it
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iosa
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marro
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paolucci
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morelli
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans