Reliability of upper and lower limb three-dimensional kinematics in children with hemiplegia

The repeatability of both 3D kinematic measurements of arm movement during simple upper limb tasks and lower limb movement during gait analysis was evaluated in 10 children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. All tasks were completed on two separate occasions, 1 week apart. The 3D lower limb gait analysis showed high levels of repeatability in the sagittal plane measures, with mean coefficient of multiple correlations (CMCs) greater than 0.92 between sessions. Transverse and frontal plane measures had mean CMCs greater than 0.7 between sessions. A 3D analysis of shoulder and elbow flexion/extension during the two functional tasks (hand to head and hand to mouth) was highly repeatable between sessions (mean CMCs, 0.87 to 0.95). Rotational measures at the shoulder and the elbow during the same tasks demonstrated moderate levels of inter-sessional repeatability (mean CMCs shoulder 0.49 to 0.63; elbow 0.63 to 0.74). Overall, the lower limb 3D kinematic analysis had similar levels of repeatability in both the hemiplegic limb and the limb with normal tone. The 3D kinematic analysis of movement of the hemiplegic upper limb during simple upper limb tasks also had moderate to good repeatability, suggesting it may be able to be used as an outcome measure in the hemiplegic upper limb.