Article

Gait abnormalities are subtle in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients
with low disability and need to be better determined.
As a biomechanical
approach, the Gait Profile Score (GPS) is used to assess gait quality by
combining nine gait kinematic variables in one single value. This study aims i)
to establish if the GPS can detect gait impairments and ii) to compare GPS with
discrete spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters in low-disabled MS patients.
METHOD: Thirty-four relapsing-remitting MS patients with an Expanded Disability
Status Scale (EDSS) score </=2 (mean age 36.32+/-8.72 years; 12 men, 22 women;
mean EDSS 1.19+/-0.8) and twenty-two healthy controls (mean age 36.85+/-7.87
years; 6 men, 16 women) matched for age, weight, height, body mass index and
gender underwent an instrumented gait analysis. RESULTS: No significant
difference in GPS values and in spatiotemporal parameters was found between
patients and controls. However patients showed a significant alteration at the
ankle and pelvis level. CONCLUSION: GPS fails to identify gait abnormalities in
low-disabled MS patients, although kinematic analysis revealed subtle gait
alterations. Future studies should investigate other methods to assess gait
impairments with a gait score in low-disabled MS patients.
CI - Copyright A(c) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS