The Differential Effect of Arm Movements during Gait on the Forward Acceleration of the Centre of Mass in Children with Cerebral Palsy and Typically Developing Children
Publication year
2017Source
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, (2017), article 96ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor

Display more detailsDisplay less details
Organization
Rehabilitation
Journal title
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Volume
vol. 11
Subject
Radboudumc 3: Disorders of movement DCMN: Donders Center for Medical NeuroscienceAbstract
Background: We aimed to study the contribution of upper limb movements to propulsion during walking in typically developing (TD) children (n = 5) and children with hemiplegic and diplegic cerebral palsy (CP; n = 5 and n = 4, respectively). Methods: Using integrated three-dimensional motion capture data and a scaled generic musculoskeletal model that included upper limbs, we generated torque driven simulations of gait in OpenSim. Induced acceleration analyses were then used to determine the contributions of the individual actuators located at the relevant degrees of freedoms of the upper and lower limb joints to the forward acceleration of the COM at each time point of the gait simulation. The mean values of the contribution of the actuators of upper limbs, lower limbs, and gravity in different phases of the gait cycle were compared between the three groups. Findings: The results indicated a limited contribution of the upper limb actuators to COM forward acceleration compared to the contribution of lower limbs and gravity, in the three groups. In diplegic CP, the contribution of the upper limbs seemed larger compared to TD during the preswing and swing phases of gait. In hemiplegic CP, the unaffected arm seemed to contribute more to COM deceleration during (pre)swing, while the affected side contributed to COM acceleration. Interpretation: These findings suggest that in the presence of lower limb dysfunction, the contribution of the upper limbs to forward propulsion is altered, although they remain negligible compared to the lower limbs and gravity.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [202606]
- Electronic publications [100803]
- Faculty of Medical Sciences [79948]
- Open Access publications [69538]
Upload full text
Use your RU credentials (u/z-number and password) to log in with SURFconext to upload a file for processing by the repository team.