Stumble recovery kinematics for KAFO users

Abstract

s / Gait & Posture 39S (2014) S1–S141 S5 Fig. 1. Results for elbow flexion. An asterisk (*) indicates no overlap with the controls and the unaffected leg. side compared to the affected side with an AFO, no differences to controls. THORAX tilt: greater RoM for the patients compared to controls. THORAX obliquity: greater RoM on the patients’ affected side compared to controls. THORAX rotation: more internal rotation on the unaffected side and more external rotation on the affected side within patients, with the unaffected side greater than the controls. PELVIC tilt: increased RoM for the patients compared to controls. PELVIC obliquity: within patients, the unaffected side was higher than the affected side. However, both sides were not clinically different from the controls. PELVIC rotation: the affected side of the patients is rotatedmore externally and the non-affected side more internally for both barefoot and with an AFO. Discussion and conclusions: This study investigated the upper body motion during gait in children with hemi-CP. It also pointed out the clinical relevant differences when compared to a control group. Our results for the shoulder and elbow motion agree with the results fromRiadet al. [1]. AlthoughanAFOcorrected thepathological toe-walking to a heel-toe gait in the patients, the influences on the upper body kinematicswere small. Thismay be explained by the fact that all children with hemi-CP were experienced users of AFOs. The results contribute to a better understanding of gait deviations in the upper body due to the biomechanics of toe-walking in children with hemi-CP.