TY - JOUR
PY - 2019//
TI - The effects of dual tasks on gait in children with cerebral palsy
JO - Gait and posture
A1 - Carcreff, Lena
A1 - Fluss, Joel
A1 - Allali, Gilles
A1 - Valenza, Nathalie
A1 - Aminian, Kamiar
A1 - Newman, Christopher J.
A1 - Armand, Stéphane
SP - 148
EP - 155
VL - 70
IS -
N2 - AIM: To assess the gait and cognitive performances of children with cerebral palsy (CP) during dual tasks (DT) in comparison to typically developing (TD) children.
METHOD: This prospective, observational, case-control study included 18 children with CP (7 girls, 11 boys; median age 12 [10:13] years and 19 controls (9 girls, 10 boys; median age 12 [10:13y6mo] years). Performances were recorded during a simple walking task, 5 DT (walking + cognitive tasks with increasing cognitive load), and 5 simple cognitive tasks (while sitting). Gait parameters were computed using an optoelectronic system during walking tasks. Six parameters were selected for analysis by a principal component analysis. Cognitive performance was measured for each cognitive task. The dual-task cost (DTC) was calculated for each DT.
RESULTS: Gait performance decreased in both groups as DT cognitive load increased (e.g., walking speed normalized by leg length, in simple task: 1.25 [1.15:1.46] s-1 for CP, 1.53 [1.38:1.62] s-1 for TD; DT with highest load: 0.64 [0.53:0.80] s-1 for CP, 0.95 [0.75:1.08] s-1 for TD). The CP group performed significantly worse than TD group in every task (including the simple task), but DTC were similar in both groups. A task effect was found for the majority of the gait parameters.
INTERPRETATION: The reduced gait performance induced by DT may generate underestimated difficulties for children with CP in daily-life situations, where DT are common. This should be considered in clinical assessments.
Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Language: en
LA - en
SN - 0966-6362
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2019.02.014
ID - ref1
ER -