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Published on: April 18, 2011
Quantification of dynamic EMG patterns during gait in children with cerebral palsy
Dubravka M Bojanic1, Bojana D Petrovacki-Balj, Nikola D Jorgovanovic
1University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Engineering, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia. dbojanic@uns.ac.rs
Insights
This study introduces a new method to analyze surface electromyographic (EMG) activity for evaluating gait disabilities in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The developed gait metric effectively distinguishes between healthy children and those with CP, correlating with motor deficit severity.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Clinical Biomechanics
- Pediatric Neurology
Background:
- Cerebral palsy (CP) often leads to gait disabilities.
- Interpreting surface electromyographic (EMG) activity during gait can be complex.
- A simplified clinical method is needed for gait evaluation in children with CP.
Purpose of the Study:
- To simplify the representation and interpretation of EMG activity during gait.
- To develop a clinical method for evaluating gait disabilities in children with CP.
- To create a quantifiable gait metric for clinical use.
Main Methods:
- Recorded EMG from four lower extremity muscles and synchronized gait cycle data.
- Developed normative gait-related patterns (norms) from healthy children using time and amplitude normalization.
- Compared patient EMG envelope shapes to norms using a novel gait metric.
Main Results:
- The gait metric showed high values in healthy children, indicating similarity to norms.
- Children with CP exhibited lower gait metric values, correlating with the severity of motor deficits.
- The method demonstrated experimental validation in distinguishing between control and CP groups.
Conclusions:
- The proposed method simplifies EMG interpretation for gait analysis in children.
- The gait metric is a valuable clinical tool for recognizing and tracking motor disorders in children with CP.
- This approach has potential applications for various neuromotor pathologies.
Abstract:
Our goal was to simplify the representation and interpretation of surface electromyographic (EMG) activity during gait to develop a clinical method for evaluating gait disabilities in children with cerebral palsy (CP). EMG was recorded from four muscles of a lower extremity. Gait cycles were tracked from one force-sensing resistor signal that was recorded synchronously with EMG. The method is based on the comparison of a patient's dynamic EMG envelope shapes and the normative gait-related patterns (norms). Developed norms were based on EMG data obtained in 10 healthy children. Due to newly introduced techniques for time and amplitude normalization, norms were developed regardless of differences in subject age, gender, basic gait parameters and the EMG measurement process. The proposed gait metric quantifies the similarity between a patient's gait-related patterns and norms by a single global value suitable for gait analysis in general, including a detailed analysis using the 10 partial values. The gait metric was experimentally validated with a control group of healthy children and a group of children with CP with different degrees of motor deficits. Gait metric values obtained in children from the control group are high for all muscles, which means that gait-related patterns are close to norms, whereas in children with CP the higher the degree of motor deficit, the lower the gait metric values. The method could be a very useful clinical tool for the recognition and tracking of motor disorders of the lower extremities in children with CP as well as many other neuromotor pathologies.
