Journal of Pediatric Neurological Disorders
Open Access

Case Report

The Immediate Effects of Therasuit® on the Gait Pattern of a Child with Unilateral Spastic Cerebral Palsy

¹Laboratory of Motor Behavior, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

²Escola Superior de Saúde do Alcoitão, Lisboa, Portugal

³Universidade Europeia, Laureate International Universities, Lisboa, Portugal

⁴Benfica LAB, Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Lisboa, Portugal

*Corresponding Author:

Rita Cordovil
Faculdade de Motricidade Humana
Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada da Costa
1495-688 Cruz Quebrada, Portugal
Tel: (+351) 21 4149253
E-mail: ritacordovil@fmh.ulisboa.pt

Received Date: March 27, 2017; Accepted Date: April 10, 2017; Published Date: April 17, 2017

Citation: Martins E, Cordovil R, Oliveira R, Pinho J, Vaz JR (2017) The Immediate Effects of Therasuit® on the Gait Pattern of a Child with Unilateral Spastic Cerebral Palsy. J Pediatr Neurol Disord 3: 111. doi:10.4172/2572-5203.1000111

Copyright: © 2017 Martins E, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Aims: This study analyzes the immediate effects of using TheraSuit® (TS) on the gait of a child with left spastic hemiplegia level II (GMFCS). Methods: Spatiotemporal gait parameters and kinematic variables in the sagittal plane were compared between baseline and TS conditions. Results: Positive effects were noted on temporal parameters in the TS condition, such as a reduced gait cadence. The analysis of angular displacements in joint angles showed that at initial contact there was a reduction in the: (i) Plantarflexion on the paretic side; (ii) Dorsiflexion on the non-paretic side; and (iii) Knee flexion angles in both limbs. Furthermore, an increase in hip and knee extension angles during stance, and a decrease in knee and hip flexion on the non-paretic limb during swing were also detected. Conclusions: Further investigations with larger samples are necessary to confirm these effects of wearing TS on gait kinematics, aiming toward providing a more functional and safer gait pattern in children with spastic hemiplegia.

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