Functional Mobility and Gait in Children and Youth with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) often undergo interventions designed to manage both the negative and positive features of the disorder such as Botulinum Toxin A injections (BoNT-A) or oral medications to reduce spasticity or strength training to improve muscle weakness. Interventions such as physiotherapy may improve the level of functioning, or orthopedic surgery may reduce the impact of musculoskeletal impairments or modify the natural history of cerebral palsy and improve gross motor and gait function (Graham et al., Nat Rev Dis Primers 2:15082, 2016). With approximately two-thirds of children ambulant (Graham et al., Nat Rev Dis Primers 2:15082, 2016; Novak et al., Dev Med Child Neurol 55:885–910, 2013), the focus of this chapter will be the effects of the brain lesion on mobility and gait with particular reference to the impact on activity and participation.