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- Title
Muscle synergy structure and gait patterns in children with spastic cerebral palsy.
- Authors
Goudriaan, Marije; Papageorgiou, Eirini; Shuman, Benjamin R; Steele, Katherine M; Dominici, Nadia; Van Campenhout, Anja; Ortibus, Els; Molenaers, Guy; Desloovere, Kaat
- Abstract
Aim: To determine if muscle synergy structure (activations and weights) differs between gait patterns in children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP). Method: In this cross‐sectional study, we classified 188 children with unilateral (n=82) or bilateral (n=106) spastic CP (mean age: 9y 5mo, SD: 4y 3mo, range: 3y 9mo–17y 7mo; 75 females; Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] level I: 106, GMFCS level II: 55, GMFCS level III: 27) into a minor deviations (n=34), drop foot (n=16), genu recurvatum (n=26), apparent equinus (n=53), crouch (n=39), and jump gait pattern (n=20). Surface electromyography recordings from eight lower limb muscles of the most affected side were used to calculate synergies with weighted non‐negative matrix factorization. We compared synergy activations and weights between the patterns. Results: Synergy structure was similar between gait patterns, although weights differed in the more impaired children (crouch and jump gait) when compared to the other patterns. Variability in synergy structure between participants was high. Interpretation: The similarity in synergy structure between gait patterns suggests a generic motor control strategy to compensate for the brain lesion. However, the differences in weights and high variability between participants indicate that this generic motor control strategy might be individualized and dependent on impairment level. This original article is commented by D'Avella et al. on pages 404–405 of this issue.
- Subjects
CHILDREN with cerebral palsy; GAIT in humans; MATRIX decomposition; NONNEGATIVE matrices; BRAIN damage; LEG muscles
- Publication
Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 2022, Vol 64, Issue 4, p462
- ISSN
0012-1622
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/dmcn.15068