ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze kinematic characteristics of children with spastic cerebral palsy during walking based on the method of gait analysis. Methods The gait of 14 children with spastic cerebral palsy and 16 healthy children, who were required to walk back and forth on level ground at normal speed, was tested using portable gait analyzer. The gait differences between diseased side and healthy side of lower limbs for children with spastic cerebral palsy, as well as the gait differences between children with spastic cerebral palsy children and healthy children were compared. Results For children with spastic cerebral palsy, single step time, swing time and toe-off time of diseased side were significantly longer than those of healthy side (P＜0.05), while step frequency, velocity and terminal stance were significantly shorter than those of healthy side (P＜0.05). Compared with healthy children, gait cycle time, single step time, stance time, swing time, percentage of stance phase, mid stance phase, pre-swing stage and toe-off time for diseased side of children with spastic cerebral palsy were significantly longer (P＜0.05). Stride, velocity, step frequency and terminal stance of the children with spastic cerebral palsy were significantly lower than those of healthy children (P＜0.05). Pulling acceleration for children with spastic cerebral palsy also decreased compared with healthy children (P=0.05). Conclusions The stability of children with spastic cerebral palsy decreased during walking, and their single step time, swing time, toe-off time and pulling acceleration might be considered as the sensitive indicators.
ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze and summarize the gait characteristics of patients with sciatica, so as to assist with diagnosis and evaluation for such patients in clinic. Methods Forty-three patients with lumbar disc herniation accompanied by siatica were fitted with portable gait analyzer, and required to walk at the self-selected comfortable speed for a distance of 120 m. Forty-three healthy subjects with matched age, gender and body mass index (BMI) were recruited as control. The gait data including 7 spatial-temporal parameters (single-support duration, double-support duration, ratio of single-support duration to double-support duration, duration of gait cycle, step speed, step frequency, step length) and 4 acceleration parameters (pulling acceleration, swing power, ground impact, foot fall) were collected to compare the gait differences between patients and healthy subjects, as well as between affected and healthy limbs of patients. Results The single-support duration, ratio of single-support duration to double-support duration, step speed, step frequency, step length and four acceleration parameters of patients with sciatica were obviously smaller than those of healthy subjects, while the double-support duration of patients with sciatica was increased. The affected limb of patients with sciatica showed a significant decrease in single-support duration, step frequency and all four acceleration parameters but increase in step length as compared to their healthy limbs. Conclusions Patients with sciatica have significant gait abnormalities due to their affected limbs, which influence their walking ability. Portable gait analyzer can be used for objectively characterizing the walking abnormalities of patients, so as to provide additional information for the clinical diagnosis and evaluation.