Long‐term muscle changes after hamstring lengthening in children with bilateral cerebral palsy

Salami, Firooz
Brosa, Julia
Van Drongelen, Stefan
Klotz, Matthias C M
Dreher, Thomas
Wolf, Sebastian I
Thielen, Mirjam

Open PDF

Open link

Publication date

July 2019

DOI

10.1111/dmcn.14097

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.

Abstract

AIM: To evaluate short-term (1y postoperatively; E1) and long-term (at least 4y postoperatively; E2) changes in hamstring muscle-tendon length (MTL) and lengthening velocity after hamstring lengthening in children with bilateral cerebral palsy (CP). METHOD: Three-dimensional gait analysis was performed in 19 children (16 males, 3 females; 36 limbs; mean age at surgery 9y [SD 3y]; range 6-10y) with flexed knee gait, preoperative ankle dorsiflexion lower than 20 degrees, and CP before bilateral hamstring lengthening (E0), at E1 and E2. Hamstring MTL (normalized by leg length) and velocity were assessed via OpenSim software. RESULTS: MTL increased from E0 to E1 (p=0.004) and decreased from E1 to E2 (p<0.020). Hamstring lengthening v...