Lecturer of Physical Therapy, Department of Physical Therapy for Disturbances of Growth and Development in Children and its Surgery, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University, Egypt
Online published on 20 November, 2014.
Background: Gait training is the basic component of rehabilitation of diplegic children. Gait abnormalities often persist throughout their life and negatively affect their functional performance. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of simultaneous feedback augmentation and real time gait training on gait in diplegic children.
Method: participants were thirty ambulant diplegic children, aged from 6 to 10 years, randomly assigned into two groups. Control group; received the treadmill training without provision of sensory cues and study group; received treadmill training with augmented visual and verbal feedback. Treatment was for 30 minutes treadmill training, three times weekly for three successive months. Step length, step width, velocity, hip, knee, and ankle joints angular displacement at mid stance were evaluated by 3D gait analysis using Vicon Clinical Manager software before and after the intervention.
Results: No significant difference between groups pre-treatment (P > 0.05). There was a significant improvement in all the measuring variables within both groups and significant differences between groups in favor of the study group in all outcomes post treatment (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: implementation of augmented feedback in gait training program may be effective in improving gait performance in diplegic children.
Spastic Diplegia, Feedback Augmentation, Gait Parameters
