We studied the kinematic patterns of knee, performing gait analysis, in diplegic children. Our gait laboratory consists of 4 infrared cameras. We used the Elite program. We studied initially 25 normal children. We constructed our models and developed the linear measurements of the gait. Then we performed measurements of the angles of the knee and ankle joints and the wave forms of the kinematic forms of these joints. We performed gait analysis in 25 diplegic children aged 4–15 years old. We found two groups of children. In the first group (21 children) the main lesion was in the kinematics of the knee and in the second group (4 children) in the ankle joint. In the first group, characteristic pattern is the absence of full extension of the knee during stance. Analyzing the kinematics of the ankle joint of this group, we found 12 children with toe strike and 9 children landing in the whole foot. Studding the wave form of the knee in stance and swing, we separated those with spasticity alone from those with fixed contractures of the knee. Our patients were treated either with botulinum injections or with intamuscular lengthening, according to our results. In the second group, of diplegic children with toe walking, we found increased equinus, both in stance and swing. Kinematic studies of the knee in frontal and coronal level showed increased adduction of the femur( scissoring) and increased anteversion. Gait analysis in diplegic children offers an accurate assessment of the gait disorders. We can plan our treatment according the results of the gait analysis.
Spinal nerve roots often sustain compression injuries. We used a Wistar rat model of the cauda equina syndrome to investigate such injuries. Rapid transient compression of the cauda equina was produced using a balloon catheter. The results were assessed by daily neurological examination and somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) recording before surgery and ten weeks after decompression. Compression of the spinal nerves induced changes in the SEP which persisted for up to ten weeks after decompression, but it had no effect on the final neurological outcome. Our study shows the importance of early surgical decompression for cauda equina syndrome.
