Long-term follow-up after patellar tendon shortening for flexed knee gait in bilateral spastic cerebral palsy.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Flexed knee gait is a common gait dysfunction in individuals with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy (BSCP) and is often addressed with single event multilevel surgery (SEMLS). SEMLS has been shown to have positive short-term effects especially on sagittal knee joint kinematics with less knee flexion during stance phase. However, mid- and long-term observations are rare, and results are reported in discrete parameters or summary statistics where temporal aspects are not considered. RESEARCH QUESTION: Does the improved knee joint kinematics after patellar tendon shortening (PTS) as part of SEMLS persist in the long-term in individuals with BSCP? METHODS: Data of instrumented gait an..