ThemFis_Vol_4_Issue_5_JanMarch2007_4-10

Reproducibility of the Kinematic Characteristics of Gait in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Thomas Mpesios, N. Aggeloulis, V. Gourgoulis, S. Mpatsiou

The purpose of the current research was to study the repeatability of the kinematic and especially the spatio-temporal gait characteristics, in children with spastic diplegia and to determine the least number of trials required to obtain reliable data for these parameters, during instrumented gait analysis. Six children with spastic diplegia, aged between 3 and 12 years, participated in the research. Each child performed 10 gait trials in each direction of a 12m long gait way. Two photocells were located 3m apart, halfway on the gait way. A camcorder operated at 100frames/sec was used to record each trial. The following spatio-temporal parameters were then calculated, for both lower limbs: duration of gait cycle, duration of each step, cadence and gait speed. For the determination of the above parameters? repeatability, the coefficient of variation (CV) and the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) were computed, for each child. The results indicated that all the above parameters showed very low variability and very high repeatability, respectively. Moreover, it was found that at least two trials have to be recorded in order to obtain reliable spatio-temporal data during instrumented gait analysis.

ThemFis_Vol_4_Issue_5_JanMarch2007_11-18

Improvement of the Proprioceptive Deficit in the Knee Joint after ACL Tear. A Case Study

Paraskevas Argiriadis

A healthy male adult, 50 years old, underwent a rehabilitation programme after a ACL mechanical rupture, with special emphasis on the proprioceptive deficit of the knee joint following the lesion. The assessment and the rehabilitation of the proprioception was based on the dynamic movements of the entire biokinetic chain of the lower limb, and not exclusively on the knee joint, through the use of a forceplate platform.

ThemFis_Vol_4_Issue_5_JanMarch2007_19-36

The Pusher Syndrome. Causes and Treatment

Konstantinos Katsoulakis

"Pusher syndrome" is a clinical disorder following left or right brain damage, where CVA patients actively push away from the healthy side towards the paretic one, leading to a loss of balance. The patients experience that their body is upright, when it actually is tilted towards the side of the lesion. The processing of visual and vestibular inputs seems to be unaffected, so the visual vertical is the focus of the physiotherapy management of the disorder, in an effort to align the longitudinal axis of the body with the earth vertical.