Clinical gait analysis and physical examination don’t correlate with physical activity of children with cerebral palsy. Cross-sectional study

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow diagram presents detailed information on the process of recruiting study participants

Figure 2. Example of daily diary, steps and intensity of physical activity (PA) for one child on one day. A previous verification was made between daily diary and data recorded by accelerometer to validate the wear time. We noticed high level of PA during break time and sport activities, paradoxically moderate to vigorous activity is recorded during videogame, dinner and TV at home. The daily diary was completed by the patient, and it does not discriminate the activities (maybe the child played with active videogame, and they did not specify). Globally, this child spent 18% of his week in MVPA and he made an average of 7187 steps per day

Table 1. Descriptive characteristics of the participants by Gross Motor Classification Scale (GMFCS)

Characteristics N = 30	Overall Mean (SD) N = 30	GMFCS I Mean (SD) N = 18	GMFCS II Mean (SD) N = 5	GMFCS III Mean (SD) N = 6	GMFCS II–III Mean (SD) N = 11
Age	12.1 (2.9)	12.5 (2.7)	12.4 (2.6)	10.7 (3.9)	11.5 (3.3)
Gender [N(%)]
Male	15 (50)	11 (61)	2 (40)	2 (33)	4 (36)
Female	15 (50)	7 (39)	3 (60)	4 (77)	7 (64)
GDI	68.5 (11.3)	72.4 (11.6)	64.2 (3.6)	60.1 (9.6)	62.1 (7.4)
Walking speed	0.9 (0.2)	1.0 (0.2)	1.0 (0.2)	0.6 (0.1)	0.8 (0.3)
SED (%)	76.2 (8.2)	75.0 (8.5)	79.0 (8.7)	77.7 (7.3)	78.3 (7.6)
SED (min)	457.4 (49.0)	449.8 (57.9)	473.9 (52.1)	466.3 (43.6)	469.7 (45.3)
MVPA (%)	14.6 (5.9)	16.0 (6.0)	12.2 (6.3)	12.4 (5.1)	12.3 (5.3)
MVPA (min)	87.7 (35.4)	96.1 (35.6)	73.3 (37.7)	74.6 (30.3)	74.0 (32.1)
Steps per day	5871.4 (2654.5)	6385.5 (2329.3)	5660.6 (4415.2)	4504.7 (1476.1)	5030.1 (3041.6)

GDI: Gait Deviation Index; SED: sedentary time; MVPA: moderate to vigorous physical activity.

Table 2. Correlation coefficients between gait analysis and time spent in MVPA, sedentary and steps per day

Parameters	Sedentary	MVPA	Steps per day
Gait pathology index
Gait deviation index	−0.12	0.24	0.33
Time and distance Timing of TO	0.39*	−0.40*	−0.28

Significates codes: ‘*’ 0.05

Table 3. Correlation coefficients between clinical examination and time spent in MVPA, sedentary and steps per day

Parameters	Sedentary	MVPA	Steps per day
Hip
Extension with knee extended Extension with knee flexed	0.44* – –	−0.48* – –	−0.46* – –
Flexion Internal rotation External rotation Abduction with hip and knee flexed Abduction with hip and knee extended Flexors Selective control motor	−0.46* – – -0.50* -0.42* -0.49* -0.70*	0.43* – – 0.45* 0.39* 0.52* 0.69*	– – -0.38* 0.45* – – – – 0.70 *

Significates codes: ‘*’ 0.05