The effects of neurodevelopmental treatment on reaching in children with spastic quadriplegia were studied using a method of analysis to quantify the qualitative term "smoothness." Hand position in three-dimensional space was recorded during a simple reaching task using the WATSMART (Waterloo Spatial Motion Analysis and Recording Technique) system in conjunction with videotaping. The number of ...

A single-subject, alternating treatments design was conducted to evaluate the effects of inhibitive ankle-foot orthoses on standing balance in a 4.5-year-old boy with moderate spastic quadriplegia who had been wearing an initial pair of inhibitive orthoses for one year. Before introducing the subject to a newly fabricated but similarly designed pair of orthoses, we collected baseline data on th...

A register of infants with cerebral palsy born to mothers resident in the Mersey region from 1967-84 has been maintained using various sources of information. A total of 1056 patients are registered of whom 331 (31%) have hemiplegia or mixed hemiplegia, 236 (22%) have diplegias or mixed diplegia, and 369 (35%) have quadriplegia or mixed quadriplegia. The remainder have dyskinetic or dystonic fo...

Subdural arteriovenous fistula (SDAVF) is a rare condition characterized by clinical manifestations ranging from mild bilateral sensory deficits to quadriplegia. The diagnosis is often delayed due to unspecific neurological symptoms, initially diagnosed as polyneuropathy or myelopathy. The diagnosis can be delayed for as long as 1-15 years. The following report describes a cervical SDAVF case i...

OBJECTIVE To report an adjuvant treatment to basic wound care of stage III and IV pressure ulcers in a patient with quadriplegia. METHODS Pulsed radio frequency energy was used as an adjunct to basic wound care of 3 large, long-standing (6 years) stage III and IV pressure ulcers that were unresponsive to conventional therapy in a 59-year-old man with quadriplegia. RESULTS The ulcers (on rig...

Posterior atlantoaxial dislocation without odontoid fracture is extremely rare and often results in fatal spinal cord injury. According to the reported literature, all cases presented mild or no neurologic deficit, with no definite relation to upper spinal cord injury. Little is reported about traumatic posterior atlantoaxial dislocation, with incomplete quadriplegia associated with a spinal co...

We assessed the medium-term outcome of three methods of isolated calf lengthening in cerebral palsy by clinical examination, observational gait analysis and, where appropriate, instrumented gait analysis. The procedures used were percutaneous lengthening of tendo Achillis, open Z-lengthening of tendo Achillis and lengthening of the gastrosoleus aponeurosis (Baker's procedure). We reviewed 195 p...