title: Effects of gastrocnemius fascia lengthening on gait pattern in children with cerebral palsy using the gait profile score.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of the GPS regarding the quantification of changes in gait following the gastrocnemius fascia lengthening in children with CP. Nineteen children with CP were selected and evaluated in the preoperative period (PRE session) and approximately one year postoperatively (POST session; mean 13.1 ± 5.1 months) using 3D gait analysis and computing the GPS and GVSs. As the GPS represents the difference between the patient's data and the average from the reference dataset, the higher the value of GPS is, more compromised gait of the subject. A statistically significant improvement in mean GPS was found in the POST session (PRE: 13.38 ± 5°; POST: 10.26 ± 2.41°; p<0.05), with an improvement close to 23%. Moreover, the GVSs demonstrated statistically significant improvements in ankle dorsi-plantarflexion (PRE: 22.20 ± 16.36°; POST: 11.50 ± 6.57°; p<0.05) and pelvic rotation (PRE: 9.53 ± 3.87°; POST: 6.47 ± 2.98°; p<0.05). A strong correlation (r=0.75; p<0.05) was found between the preoperative GPS and the percentage of GPS improvement. The results demonstrated that the gastrocnemius fascia lengthening produced a global gait pattern improvement, as showed by the GPS value, which decreased after surgery. Besides this, the GVS permitted to better evidence the joints more compromised by the pathology and their improvement due to the surgery, in this case not only the GVS of the ankle joint but also of the pelvis were characterized by higher GVS values.
authors.affiliation: Guairacá College and Universidade Nove de Julho-UNINOVE, San Paolo, Brazil. Electronic address: luiz_braun@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Luiz Alfredo Braun
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cimolin
authors.affiliation: Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Pier Francesco
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Costici
authors.affiliation: IRCCS "San Raffaele Pisana", San Raffaele SpA, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Albertini
authors.affiliation: Universidade Nove de Julho-UNINOVE, San Paolo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Claudia Santos
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy; IRCCS "San Raffaele Pisana", San Raffaele SpA, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galli
mesh_terms: D000843:Ankle Joint; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D000071938:Fasciotomy; D005260:Female; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000601:surgery*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Cerebral palsy; Gait Profile Score; Gait analysis; Gastrocnemius fascia lengthening; Surgery