Abstract
Lohmann Siegel K, Hicks JE, Koziol DE, Gerber LH, Rider LG. Walking ability and its relationship to lower-extremity muscle strength in children with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2004;85:767-71. Objective To describe gait deficits and their association with lower-extremity muscle strength in children with juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM). Design Cross-sectional, descriptive study. Setting Clinical research center. Participants Consecutive sample of 25 ambulatory children diagnosed with juvenile IIM. Interventions Not applicable. Main outcome measures Manual muscle test (MMT) of bilateral hip flexor, extensor, and abductor; knee extensor; and ankle plantarflexor strength, all measured on a 0- to 10-point scale and summary strength measures. Video-based movement analysis to determine walking speed; gait cycle time; right and left step time; stride length; right and left step length; and stance, swing, and double-limb support phase durations. Results Walking speed (1.03±0.27m/s) was reduced because of shortened stride lengths (1.03±0.21m) more than prolonged gait cycle times (1.05±0.22s). Walking speed highly correlated with the number of muscle groups weaker than grade 7 out of 10 ( r=−.89) and the strength of the hip flexors ( r=.85). Conclusions Lower-extremity strength measures, including MMT scores of individual muscle groups and the number of weak muscle groups, were predictive of gait limitations in children with juvenile IIM.
Published Version
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