Study of rising from a chair movement of adults with cerebral palsy

Abstract

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of patterns of movement in rising from a chair among spastic diplegia-type adult cerebral palsy patients. [Subjects] The study subjects were 12 healthy adults and 16 spastic diplegia-type adult cerebral palsy patients. [Method] The 16 spastic diplegia-type adult cerebral palsy patients were divided into a stable rising movement group of 9 members and an unstable movement group of 7 members based on a preliminary test. Movement properties in the 3 groups were compared. The rising movements of the 3 groups, from the sitting position to standing, were captured using a digital video camera. The data were loaded onto a computer, and the movements were analyzed. [Results] Prolongation of total rising movement time, decrease in distance between the base of support and center of gravity of the body while rising from a chair, decrease in maximum horizontal velocity of the center of gravity while rising from a chair, and decrease in lower limbs, inclination angle with the vertical were observed in the unstable rising movement group. [Conclusion] The results suggest that the rising movements of latently unstable subjects can possibly be extracted by evaluating the above 4 parameters for adults with cerebral palsy.