The arm posture in children with unilateral Cerebral Palsy is mainly related to antero-posterior gait instability

Publication date: September 2016
Source:Gait & Posture, Volume 49
Author(s): Pieter Meyns, Jacques Duysens, Kaat Desloovere
In this observational case-control study we aimed to determine whether altered arm postures in children with unilateral CP (uniCP) are related to gait instability in a specific direction.Antero-posterior and medio-lateral Foot Placement Estimator instability measures and arm posture measures (vertical and antero-posterior hand position, sagittal and frontal upper arm elevation angle) were determined in eleven uniCP (7 years–10 months) and twenty-four typically developing children (9 years–6 months) at two walking speeds. Spearman-rank correlation analyses were made to examine the relationship between antero-posterior and medio-lateral arm posture and gait instability.Arm posture in both planes was related to antero-posterior instability (e.g. sagittal and frontal upper arm elevation angle correlated moderately with antero-posterior instability; R=0.41, p<0.001, R=−0.47, p<0.001). In uniCP, increased antero-posterior instability was associated with a higher (R=−0.62, p=0.002) and more frontal position of the hemiplegic hand (R=−0.58, p=0.005), while the non-hemiplegic upper arm was rotated more backward (R=0.63, p=0.002) and both upper arms rotated more sideways (hemiplegic: R=−0.58, p=0.004; non-hemiplegic: R=−0.55, p=0.008).The altered non-hemiplegic (sagittal and frontal) arm posture in uniCP may be a compensation to reduce antero-posterior gait instability.



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