Estimation of gait parameter using sonoelastography in children with cerebral palsy.

We aimed to study the relationship between neuromuscular abnormalities associated with spasticity and gait impairments in spastic children with hemiplegia cerebral palsy (CP). Neuromuscular abnormalities of the tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius muscles of the spastic ankle were quantified using sonoelastography with two major features; i.e. entropy and histogram ratio of sonoelastography images. Gait impairments were evaluated in the gait laboratory using motion capture system, and the spatial and temporal features were extracted. The correlation analysis showed a significant relation between both the entropy and histogram ratio of sonoelastography images with walking speed and step time. The findings demonstrate that the neuromuscular abnormalities associated with spasticity may contribute to gait impairments in children with CP.