Reliability of a Body-worn Sensor System for Gait Analysis in Children With CP

Cerebral palsy (CP) is caused by a non-progressive injury in the developing brain, which leads to problems in functional mobility, posture, neuro musculoskeletal functions and gait. Around 75% of children with CP are ambulatory however they have gait problems such as excessive knee flexion, stiff knee, crouch gait or equinus which affects the quality of gait. When constructing an effective treatment plan in children with CP, a comprehensive assessment should be performed. One of the most essential assessments is gait analysis. Gait analysis is used in the quantitative assessment of gait disturbances providing functional diagnosis, assessment for treatment, planning, and monitoring of progress. Gait analysis aims to determine the factors leading to gait disturbances. To reach this aim, a large amount of quantitative data concerning the gait characteristics of a patient is analyzed. The assessment of these data can be performed via standardized clinical videos, recorded with numerical video cameras used in conjunction with optical 3D systems. The purpose of this study was to confirm the test-retest reliability of a commercially available body-worn sensor- G-Walk® sensor system-for spatiotemporal gait parameters in children with CP.