[Measures to improve gait in patients with cerebral palsy]

Gait disorders in patients with cerebral palsy result in excessive energy consumption due to spasticity and faulty biomechanics. Instrumented gait analysis shows these problems best and provides the optimal base for the orthopaedic treatment. Modern therapy options consist of muscle lengthenings, muscle shortenings, corrections of torsions and stabilisations of joints. Especially at the foot level, conservative and operative means can be used depending on the individual situation. The aim is to rebalance muscle strength and length and to restore the lever arms. As many procedures as possible are combined in multilevel corrections in order to keep the total rehabilitation for the patient as short as possible.