How does Gait Analysis help the patient?
Motion and Gait Analysis System Benefits Motion Analysis has been available as a tool for the documentation of human movement for the last hundred years. In that time, advances in the technology of observation and measurement have increased our ability to document, record and analyze human motion. Quantification of human motion by the measurement of joint motion, electromyographic activity of the muscles and the forces both created by and acting upon the body can be precisely recorded and evaluated. These measurements may be coordinated in time to allow comparison between modes of evaluation, creating an accurate assessment of the patients' ambulatory ability.
Gait Analysis is simply a measurement system that allows the user to monitor and analyze human locomotion. This allows the documentation of gait abnormalities in children with neuromuscular disorders. It also provides the information from which a treatment recommendation may be made to enhance the subnormal gait patterns evident in these children.
Gait abnormalities are a combination of deviations imposed by the neurological system and the secondary adaptations that the child must make to circumvent them. Identification of these gait abnormalities by simple observation is difficult even for the trained eye. The normal person can see up to twelve events simultaneously. This is insufficient to observe all the events that are occurring simultaneously in the child with a neuromuscular disorder. Motion analysis allows frame by frame observation of the joint motion, kinetics and kinematics. This allows the user to see and measure exactly what is occurring at each specific joint. Such information can determine surgical intervention, orthotic or prosthetic recommendations or modifications, and physical therapy recommendations. For the child with a neurological disease, gait analysis will precisely measure the abnormalities of gait at a specific point in time and accurately assess the outcome of a particular treatment or intervention. It is a quantitative method that first selects the treatment, and then monitors and documents the response.
Physicians using gait analysis systems have stated that 50% of the children that they see, who have had previous surgeries without a prior gait analysis, have been hurt by that surgery. A misconception persists among orthopedists that clinical examination and observation alone are adequate to determine treatment. Human gait is complex and a thorough understanding of it is only possible with the assistance of technology and an understanding of biomechanics. Achieving this bond between technology and the clinical evaluation of the patient, can result in more accurate treatment recommendations for the child. Gait analysis provides the surgeon with critical information that is otherwise unavailable.
Research benefits are associated with the clinical benefits provided by the motion analysis system. Both clinical and state of the art research may be undertaken using a motion analysis system. Using motion analysis, evaluations may be made of surgical procedures, orthotic and prosthetic devices, and physical therapy programs by using a pre and post assessment. Such information is not only very valuable to the surgeon involved, but also to the entire medical community, as there are few advances in surgical techniques without documentation of the success of the procedure. Motion and gait analysis provides a method by which to accomplish this. State of the art and new techniques or methods of using gait analysis are possible with the system because of its adaptability, and thus the available research topics are endless.
Together with the clinical benefits and research benefits gained, motion analysis is also a financially feasible venture. The cost of the system, can be offset by the monies obtained from insurance companies for providing this valuable information, in addition to research grants. To date, there are several clinical laboratories providing gait analysis services that are reimbursed by the insurance companies for the services provided. Many of these institutions also have research grants funding special projects of interest. Therefore all aspects of gait analysis, both clinical and research, can be funded to provide important information to improve the quality of care for people with neurological disorders.