Article

Eighteen children with diplegic cerebral palsy and no history of orthopaedic
surgery had two gait analyses a mean of 6.3 years apart to analyse the effects of
time on their gait. The mean age of the children at first analysis was 7.7 years
(range 4.4-13.3 years). The data was analysed as a whole group (18 children) and
as two sub-groups of nine children: those with a shorter follow-up (mean 5.0
years) and those with a longer follow-up (mean 7.5 years) between analyses. The
following significant bilateral changes were seen in the whole group and longer
follow-up sub-group: deterioration in the range of knee flexion, mid-stance knee
flexion, peak knee extension in stance and hamstring length and an improvement in
mean and maximum hip rotation. Temporal data showed no significant changes once
normalised. There were no bilateral significant changes in data from children
evaluated at a mean of 5 years follow-up. GMFCS scores generally improved over
time despite the significant increase in flexed knee gait. There was no
significant change in gait deviation index in any group over time. There was an
increase in body mass index in 16 children but there was no correlation between
this and the degree of mid-stance knee flexion. These findings may have
implications for longer term follow-up of children with cerebral palsy into
adulthood.
CI - Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS