title: Influence of External Visual Focus on Gait in Children With Bilateral Cerebral Palsy.
abstract: To explore whether focusing a target influenced gait in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and typical development (TD).
  
  
  
  Thirty children with bilateral CP (Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] I-III) and 22 with TD looked at a light at walkway end (Gaze Target) while walking and returned (No Target).
  
  
  
  During Gaze versus No Target, children with TD reduced temporal-spatial parameters and movements in the sagittal (SPM) and transverse planes. In comparison, during Gaze Target, children in CP1 (GMFCS I) had larger trunk SPM, children in CP2 (GMFCS II) larger neck (SPM), and children in CP3 (GMFCS III) greater head and neck frontal plane movements, and reduced cadence and single support.
  
  
  
  Focusing a target altered gait in children with CP. Children in CP1 reduced movements similar to children with TD, children in CP2 behaved nearly unchanged, whereas children in CP3 reduced movements and temporal-spatial parameters, potentially as a consequence of lack of sensory information from lower limbs.
authors.affiliation: Karolinska University Hospital (Dr Bartonek), Solna, Sweden; Department of Women's and Children's Health (Dr Bartonek and Ms Lidbeck), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; and KTH Mechanics and KTH BioMEx Center (Dr Gutierrez-Farewik), Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Asa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bartonek
authors.forename: Cecilia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lidbeck
authors.forename: Elena M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Gutierrez-Farewik
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology; D060726:Torso / Q000503:physiopathology; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*