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Updated: Jul 13, 2026
Postural Organization of Gait Initiation for Biomechanical Analysis Using Force Platform Recordings
Published on: July 26, 2022
Anticipatory postural adjustments in children with cerebral palsy and children with typical development
Wen-Yu Liu1, Christopher Alan Zaino, Sarah Westcott McCoy
1Department of Physical Therapy, Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, Chang-Gung University, Taiwan. wylpt@mail.cgu.edu.tw
Purpose:
We sought to examine whether children with cerebral palsy (CP) demonstrate anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) similar to those observed in children with typical development (TD).
Methods:
A sample of convenience of 14 children, seven with CP and seven with TD, participated in this study. The center of pressure (COP) was calculated from ground reaction force data collected from the AMTI (OR-6) force platform as the child reached forward while standing.
Results:
Posterior COP shift frequently was observed in both groups of children before arm movement. However, the children with CP showed greater variability and significantly shorter amplitude of the APA COP excursion as compared with those with TD.
Conclusions:
The control of APAs is problematic for some children with CP and, therefore, intervention designed to facilitate APAs may be beneficial for those children.
