Kinematic assessment of distance and time parameters for children with cerebral palsy during the gait cycle

Abstract

Aim: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a developmental disorder of motor, psychological and emotional functions. Its most typical symptom is a walking disorder. The aim of this study was to analyze children's walking abilities based on basic kinematic parameters, in addition, to identify and quantify distance and time parameters in hemiparesis cerebral palsy children by three-dimensional kinematic gait analysis. Material and Method: Kinematic motion analysis system during gait cycle was done in motion analysis lab in Delta University for Science & Technology which equipped with walkway and six infrared cameras operating at 60 HZ frequency. Gait analysis of (15) hemiparesis and (15) healthy children was quantified by the new anatomically based protocol of three dimensional kinematical gait analysis. Kinematic parameters in hemiparesis cerebral palsy and healthy children were identified and calculated. Results: The results of this study revealed that there was significant decrease in the speed of walking, stride length, step length and numbers of steps per unit of time (cadence) in the group of hemiparesis children during gait cycle compared to healthy children. Discussion: Current research proved that the patterns of walking of the paretic and non-paretic sides of hemiparesis CP children were different compared to healthy children.