Changes in gait patterns after operations in children with spastic cerebral palsy

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Pediatric Neurology
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of disorders affecting movement and posture, often impacting gait.
• Spasticity is a common feature of CP, leading to muscle tightness and impaired motor function.
• Surgical interventions, such as soft tissue operations, are employed to address these motor deficits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of corrective soft tissue operations on gait ability in children with spastic cerebral palsy.
• To compare subjective visual gait assessments with objective foot-switch measurements post-surgery.
• To analyze differences in postoperative gait improvement between hemiplegic and diplegic CP subtypes.

Main Methods:

• A specialized worksheet and scoring system were used to assess gait ability before and after surgery.
• Objective gait data were collected using foot-switches for comparison with visual scores.
• Patients included children with spastic cerebral palsy, categorized by hemiplegic and diplegic types.

Main Results:

• Significant postoperative improvements in overall gait were observed.
• Enhanced mobility of the leg and foot was a prominent finding.
• A strong correlation was found between visually assessed scores and objective foot-switch data.
• Hemiplegic children showed the most pronounced improvements, followed by diplegic children.

Conclusions:

• Corrective soft tissue operations are beneficial for improving gait in spastic children with cerebral palsy.
• The utilized scoring system effectively measures gait improvements, correlating well with objective measures.
• The surgical approach yields positive outcomes across different CP subtypes, particularly hemiplegia.