Laxmi Mohan, George Zachariah, Sreekala Vasanthiamma Krishnan Nair, Selvan Ponnayyan
BACKGROUND One of the leading causes of motor disability in children is cerebral palsy.1 Various abnormal patterns of gait are described in this population of children. Jump gait is one of the common gait patterns in children with spastic diplegia. Various factors affect the gait characteristics of children with spasticity e.g. severity of spasticity, poor voluntary control, poor endurance of muscles, age, weight and Body Mass Index (BMI), balance etc. 3 D gait analysis helps us to understand these gait patterns better. This study aims to describe the variation in distance and temporal characteristics of jump gait in children with spastic cerebral palsy having different BMI. MATERIALS AND METHODS Clinical evaluation, measurement of Body Mass Index (BMI) and 3 D gait analysis data of 14 children with spastic diplegia walking with jump gait were compiled after informed consent. Spatial parameters studied were stride length, step length and step width. Temporal parameters studied were cadence, mean velocity, and stride time. Children were grouped into heavy and not heavy cohorts according to BMI measurement. The spatiotemporal characteristics were studied using appropriate statistical analysis like independent t test. RESULTS The mean age of the study group was 8.4 years and the mean weight was 27.1 kg. The mean height was 117.8 cms. The mean BMI of the group was 18.7± 5.6 Kg/meter sq. 6 children belonged to the GMFCS I, and 8 belonged to GMFCS II. According to age matched BMI calculations 2 children were underweight, 6 were normal, one obese and 5 pre-obese. The stride time and cadence of the group of children who were heavier was lesser than those who were not heavy as measured with BMI. The mean velocity was less when compared to those children who were not heavy. Heavier children had a slightly wider step width (p value- not significant). CONCLUSION In this cohort of children from India, heavy children with spastic diplegia walking with jump gait were slower in walking than not heavy children. Heavy children with jump gait had a slightly wider base of support. (p value was not significant).
