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Updated: Mar 26, 2026
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Published on: January 15, 2016
Walking-induced muscle fatigue impairs postural control in adolescents with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy
Damien Vitiello1, Ludmilla Pochon2, Davide Malatesta3
1Laboratory of Fundamental and Applied Bioenergetics, Inserm U1055, University of Grenoble, Grenoble, France; University of Health Sciences, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Background:
Fatigue is likely to be an important limiting factor in adolescents with spastic cerebral palsy (CP).
Aims:
To determine the effects of walking-induced fatigue on postural control adjustments in adolescents with unilateral CP and their typically developing (TD) peers.
Methods:
Ten adolescents with CP (14.2 ± 1.7 yr) and 10 age-, weight- and height-matched TD adolescents (14.1 ± 1.9 yr) walked for 15 min on a treadmill at their preferred walking speed. Before and after this task, voluntary strength capacity of knee extensors (MVC) and postural control were evaluated in 3 conditions: eyes open (EO), eyes closed (EC) and with dual cognitive task (EODT).
Results:
After walking, MVC decreased significantly in CP (-11%, P<0.05) but not in TD. The CoP area was only significantly increased in CP (90%, 34% and 60% for EO, EC and EODT conditions, respectively). The CoP length was significantly increased in the EO condition in CP and TD (20% and 21%) and was significantly increased in the EODT condition by 18% in CP only.
Conclusions:
Unlike TD adolescents, treadmill walking for 15 min at their preferred speed lead to significant knee extensor strength losses and impairments in postural control in adolescents with unilateral spastic CP.
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