A new strength assessment to evaluate the association between muscle weakness and gait pathology in children with cerebral palsy.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

The main goal of this validation study was to evaluate whether lower limb muscle weakness and plantar flexor rate of force development (RFD) related to altered gait parameters in children with cerebral palsy (CP), when weakness was assessed with maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVICs) in a gait related test position. As a subgoal, we analyzed intra- and intertester reliability of this new strength measurement method.

Methods

Part 1 -Intra- and intertester reliability were determined with the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC2,1) in 10 typical developing (TD) children (age: 5-15). We collected MVICs in four lower limb muscle groups to define maximum joint torques, as well as plantar flexor RFD. Part 2 -Validity of the strength assessment was explored by an

SUBMITTER: Goudriaan M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5764363 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature