Use of partial body weight support system on static and dynamic surfaces during walking training of children with cerebral palsy

• Grant number: 10/15218-3
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: May 01, 2011 - April 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal researcher: Ana Maria Forti Barela
• Grantee: Ana Maria Forti Barela
• Home Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde. Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul (UNICSUL). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Partial body weight support (PBWS) systems provide body weight bearing on lower limbs and, consequently, reduce the load and facilitate the deambulation capacity. These systems have been used more frequently on movable surfaces (treadmills) and patients with locomotor disorders had shown improvements on walking performance. However, the use of PBWS on movable surfaces does not reflect walking in daily living conditions, as for example, the propulsive forces needed for walking on static surfaces (overground). Recently, a PBWS system was developed to be used overground, and the results from interventions on individuals with stroke indicated that this system is effective for them. In this project, walking of children with cerebral palsy (CP) will be analyzed biomechanically with PBWS on static and dynamic surfaces. Two groups of children with CP will be submitted to one specific form of training: waling with PBWS on static surface or walking with PBWS on dynamic surface, in order to verify the implications of both training strategies. All children will be filmed by digital cameras waling on a walkway, and reflective markers will be placed on main landmarks to acquire kinematics data. A force plate will be flushed in the central area of the walkway to acquire data from ground reaction force and will be analyzed. Spatial-temporal characteristics, joint angles, trunk and lower limbs position, and gross motor function also will be analyzed before, right after and three months after the training period with PBWS. All acquired data will be processed with specific programs for movement analysis. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BARELA, ANA MARIA F.; GAMA, GABRIELA L.; RUSSO-JUNIOR, V, DOUGLAS; CELESTINO, MELISSA L.; BARELA, JOSE A. Gait alterations during walking with partial body weight supported on a treadmill and over the ground. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 9, MAY 31 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

GAMA, GABRIELA L.; CELESTINO, MELISSA L.; BARELA, JOSE A.; BARELA, ANA M. F. Gait initiation and partial body weight unloading for functional improvement in post-stroke individuals. GAIT & POSTURE, v. 68, p. 305-310, FEB 2019. Web of Science Citations: 1.

BARELA, ANA M. F.; DE FREITAS, PAULO B.; CELESTINO, MELISSA L.; CAMARGO, MARCELA R.; BARELA, JOSE A. Ground reaction forces during level ground walking with body weight unloading. BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL THERAPY, v. 18, n. 6, p. 572-579, NOV-DEC 2014. Web of Science Citations: 10.