Head stability in walking in children with cerebral palsy and in children and adults without neurological impairment

Background and Purpose. The location of several sensory systems in the head implies that maintenance of head stability may be a potentially important part of locomotor activity. A limited amount of research, however, has been conducted to measure stability or to compare head stability among differen t groups. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a method for m easuring head stability during walking could differentiate among 3 groups: (1) children with cerebral palsy, (2) children without neurological impairm ent, and (3) adults without neurological impairment. Subjects. Eight adults without known neurological impairment, 6 children without known neurologic al impairment, and 6 children with cerebral palsy and mild spastic hemipleg ia were compared. Methods. Subjects walked on a treadmill at their preferre d speed at a number of frequencies. Head stability was characterized by flu ctuations in period and amplitude of head motion in the sagittal plane acro ss walking cycles. Results. Mean period fluctuation was lower for the adult s than for the children, and it was lower for the children without neurolog ical impairments dan for the children with cerebral palsy. Conclusion and D iscussion. The method can be used to differentiate head stability among dif ferent,groups during functional activities.