BACKGROUND The optimization of gait performance is an important goal in the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy (CP) who present a prognosis associated with locomotion. Gait analysis using videos captured by digital cameras requires validation. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the validity of a method that involves the analysis of videos captured using a digital camera for quantifying the tem...

Cerebral palsy is an established symptom complex that results from heterogeneous etiologies. Our understanding of the relative contribution of underlying etiologies to the occurrence of cerebral palsy is largely derived from studies lacking systematic neurologic evaluation or the application of contemporary imaging modalities. Throughout a 10-year inclusive period, the case records of all conse...

Aims: To investigate the prevalence and aetiology of cerebral palsy (CP), describe and analyse motor function and accompanying impairments, apply a new classification of unilateral and bilateral CP and describe prevalence, aetiology, function and growth in dyskinetic and bilateral spastic CP. Material and methods: In a population-based study in western Sweden, the prevalence and aetiology of CP...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of tizanidine (an alpha(2) noradrenergic agonist) on transmission in the interneuronal pathway coactivated by group I and group II afferents in post-stroke patients with spastic hemiplegia. METHODS Early and late facilitation of the quadriceps H reflex elicited in the common peroneal nerve--attributed to non-monosynaptic group I and group II excitation, res...

Details and concepts of intramuscular, extramuscular and intermuscular myofascial force transmission are reviewed. Some new experimental data are added regarding myofascial force transmission between antagonistic muscles across the interosseal membrane of the lower hind limb of the rat. Combined with other result presented in this issue, it can be concluded that myofascial force transmission oc...

Here we report an acute effect of aquatic pole walking (PW) training intervention on a 64-year-old male patient with chronic hemiparesis and symptoms of spasticity in the right lower limb. A comparison of over ground walking before and after 20 minutes of aquatic PW training revealed a significant improvement in gait performance. As a main result, the average speed of walking after the interven...

The purpose of this study was to analyze associations between prenatal factors and cerebral palsy in a geographically based cohort of very low birth weight infants. Cases (n = 80) and controls had birth weights of 500-1,500 g and were born in 1978-1989, to a resident of one of 17 counties in northwest North Carolina. Medical records were reviewed for data about prenatal and neonatal factors. As...

1. Primary Motor Cortex (M1, Brodmann area 4): The primary motor cortex is located on the precentral gyrus just rostral to the central sulcus. It is the source of cortical neurons that will project to the brainstem and spinal cord to activate neurons involved in the control of voluntary movements. It receives input from the neighboring primary somatosensory area (S1, on the postcentral gyrus) a...