Identification of gait events in children with spastic cerebral palsy: comparison between the force plate and...

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Clinical Gait Analysis
• Pediatric Rehabilitation

Background:

• Spastic cerebral palsy (SCP) significantly impacts gait patterns in children.
• Accurate identification of gait events is crucial for assessing and managing SCP-related mobility impairments.
• Existing algorithms for gait event detection require validation against gold-standard methods like force plates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the accuracy of five recommended gait event identification algorithms against force plate data in children with SCP.
• To evaluate algorithm performance across different SCP subtypes (unilateral/bilateral) and gait patterns (equinus/slide/drag).

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving seven children (mean age 8.6±4.7 years) with unilateral or bilateral SCP.
• Collection of kinematic and kinetic gait data during barefoot walking.
• Comparison of foot-strike (FS) and toe-off (TO) events detected by algorithms versus force plate, with error calculated in milliseconds.

Main Results:

• The Ghoussayni et al. algorithm demonstrated the best overall performance for gait event detection.
• Exceptions were noted for foot-strike events on the unaffected side in unilateral SCP, where Desailly et al. and Zeni et al. algorithms performed best.
• The study analyzed 202 steps, comparing 202 foot-strike and 194 toe-off events.

Conclusions:

• The Ghoussayni et al. algorithm is a viable and accurate tool for detecting gait events in children with SCP when force plate technology is inaccessible.
• This finding supports the use of validated algorithms in clinical settings for improved gait analysis and intervention planning in pediatric populations with SCP.