title: Trunk movements during gait in cerebral palsy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lower limb deficits have been widely studied during gait in cerebral palsy, deficits in upper body have received little attention. The purpose of this research was to describe the characteristics of trunk movement of cerebral palsy children in terms of type of deficits (diplegia/hemiplegia) and gross motor function classification system (1, 2 or 3).
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 92 cerebral palsy children, which corresponds to 141 clinical gait analysis, were retrospectively selected. Kinematic parameters of trunk were extracted from thorax and spine angles in the sagittal, transverse and coronal planes. The range of motion and the mean positions over the gait cycle were analysed. Intra-group differences between the children with diplegia or hemiplegia, gross motor function classification systems 1 to 3 and typically developing participants were analysed with Kruskal-Wallis tests and post hoc tests. Pearson correlation coefficients between the gait profile score normalised walking speed and kinematic parameters of the thorax were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results revealed: 1) the range of motion of the thorax and spine exhibited more significant differences between groups than the mean positions; 2) greater levels of impairment were associated with higher thorax range of motion, and 3) the children with diplegia and gross motor function classification system 3 exhibited a greater range of motion for all planes with the exception of spine rotation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study confirmed that greater levels of impairment in cerebral palsy are associated with greater thorax range of motion during gait. The thorax plays an important role during gait in cerebral palsy.
authors.affiliation: Willy Taillard Laboratory of Kinesiology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva University, Switzerland; School of Health, Geneva University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Attias
authors.affiliation: Willy Taillard Laboratory of Kinesiology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva University, Switzerland. Electronic address: alice.bonnefoymazure@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonnefoy-Mazure
authors.affiliation: CHRU Brest, Hôpital Morvan, Service Médecine Physique et Réadaptation, Brest, France.
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lempereur
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Orthopaedic Service, Department of Child and Adolescent, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva University, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lascombes
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Orthopaedic Service, Department of Child and Adolescent, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva University, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Geraldo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Coulon
authors.affiliation: Willy Taillard Laboratory of Kinesiology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva University, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Armand
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013131:Spine / Q000503:physiopathology; D013909:Thorax / Q000503:physiopathology; D060726:Torso / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Cerebral palsy; Clinical gait analysis; Diplegia; Hemiplegia; Trunk movements