Abstract
Abstract Introduction: Diplegic children have difficulties in gait and therefore ramps are used as strategies of accessibility. Objective: The present study investigated the influence of an inclined surface (ascending and descending) on the kinematic characteristics during gait of the diplegic group (DG) when compared to typically developing children of the control group (CG). Methods: Study participants included 20 children (10 with DG and 10 CG) matched by age, which were evaluated in three experimental conditions (horizontal and inclined ascending and inclined descending surfaces of 7º) through an optoelectronic imaging system. Results: Among the linear kinematic variables, only step width differed among groups, however, without influence of the surface. The foot height differed among the groups only in the descending phase, where DG had greater difficulty in raising the foot. The 3-dimensional gait analyses could not provide more evidences of differences in kinematics variables, especially in transverse plane, between DG and CG, but provide some evidence to support that hip range of motion (ROM) during the gait cycle, hip flexion-extension in initial contact, knee ROM and the 2nd anterior-posterior trunk peak amplitude of the DG were influenced on descent by their flexor pattern. Conclusion: The DG was most affected by the inclination plane than CG especially on descent. Although a hip and knee flexor pattern is evident for DG on inclination of 7º, this angle is accessible since it allows independent gait functional activity.
Highlights
Diplegic children have difficulties in gait and ramps are used as strategies of accessibility
Note: DG: diplegic group; CG: control group; SwT: Swing Time; StT: Stance Time; Stride% and step width%= normalized with respect to height; SD = standard deviation. a, b- comparison between surfaces for diplegic group (p< 0.05) A, B- comparison between surfaces for control group (p< 0.05) p-value of comparisons between groups in each surface. *p
The observed difference was in relation to the group, being significantly higher (p = 0.004) for the DG when compared to the CG
Summary
Diplegic children have difficulties in gait and ramps are used as strategies of accessibility. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a non-progressive neurological condition that can cause sensory, cognitive, perceptual disorders with implications for functional performance, especially in diparesis or diparetic/ diplegic CP (3). These children generally adopted different walking strategies, most of them with crouched gait, knee internal rotation, anterior pelvic tilt (4) with toe-walking (5). These individuals’ necessities of accessibility structures that not always were investigated about yours biomechanics advantages, and the motion effectiveness. Ramps have been recommended in order to promote accessibility for individuals with physical impairments when level changes are required (2), and in an ecological approach (6) could be an additional challenge while walking in ramps
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have