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Updated: Feb 26, 2026
Clinical-oriented Three-dimensional Gait Analysis Method for Evaluating Gait Disorder
Published on: March 4, 2018
Gait analysis in children with cerebral palsy
Stéphane Armand1, Geraldo Decoulon2, Alice Bonnefoy-Mazure1
1Willy Taillard Laboratory of Kinesiology, Geneva University Hospitals and Geneva University, Switzerland.
Insights
Clinical gait analysis (CGA) helps understand and manage complex gait deviations in children with cerebral palsy (CP). It provides objective data to identify issues, guiding treatment strategies for improved mobility.
Area of Science:
- Orthopedics
- Neurology
- Biomechanics
Background:
- Children with cerebral palsy (CP) exhibit diverse motor disorders leading to significant gait deviations.
- Clinical gait analysis (CGA) is crucial for assessing these complex deviations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the importance of CGA in identifying, understanding, and managing gait deviations in CP.
- To explain the interpretation of CGA data in relation to clinical impairments and compensatory strategies.
Main Methods:
- CGA involves collecting quantitative data including video, kinematics, kinetics, electromyography, and plantar pressure.
- Gait deviations in CP are categorized into patterns like spastic hemiplegia and diplegia, though they exist on a continuum.
Main Results:
- CGA provides objective identification of gait deviations, aiding in the understanding of their underlying causes.
- It helps differentiate primary deviations from compensatory strategies, informing treatment decisions.
Conclusions:
- CGA is essential for objective gait deviation assessment in CP, guiding treatment goals such as limiting secondary deformities and preserving muscle function.
- It also plays a role in evaluating the effectiveness of interventions for CP gait abnormalities.
Abstract:
Cerebral palsy (CP) children present complex and heterogeneous motor disorders that cause gait deviations.Clinical gait analysis (CGA) is needed to identify, understand and support the management of gait deviations in CP. CGA assesses a large amount of quantitative data concerning patients' gait characteristics, such as video, kinematics, kinetics, electromyography and plantar pressure data.Common gait deviations in CP can be grouped into the gait patterns of spastic hemiplegia (drop foot, equinus with different knee positions) and spastic diplegia (true equinus, jump, apparent equinus and crouch) to facilitate communication. However, gait deviations in CP tend to be a continuum of deviations rather than well delineated groups. To interpret CGA, it is necessary to link gait deviations to clinical impairments and to distinguish primary gait deviations from compensatory strategies.CGA does not tell us how to treat a CP patient, but can provide objective identification of gait deviations and further the understanding of gait deviations. Numerous treatment options are available to manage gait deviations in CP. Generally, treatments strive to limit secondary deformations, re-establish the lever arm function and preserve muscle strength.Additional roles of CGA are to better understand the effects of treatments on gait deviations. Cite this article: Armand S, Decoulon G, Bonnefoy-Mazure A. Gait analysis in children with cerebral palsy. EFORT Open Rev 2016;1:448-460. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.1.000052.
