The influence of estimated body segment parameters on predicted joint kinetics during diplegic cerebral palsy gait

Inverse Dynamic calculations are routinely used in joint moment and power estimates during gait with anthropometric data often taken from published sources. Many biomechanical analyses have highlighted the need to obtain subject-specific anthropometric data (e.g. Mass, Centre of Mass, Moments of Inertia) yet the types of imaging techniques required to achieve this are not always available in the clinical setting. Differences in anthropometric sets have been shown to affect the reactive force and moment calculations in normal subjects but the effect on a paediatric diplegic cerebral palsy group has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of using different anthropometric sets on predicted sagittal plane moments during normal and diplegic cerebral palsy gait. Three published anthropometric sets were applied to the reactive force and moment calculations of 14 Cerebral Palsy and 14 Control subjects. Statistically significant differences were found when comparing the different anthropometric sets but variability in the resulting sagittal plane moment calculations between sets was low (0.01–0.07 Nm/kg). In addition, the GDI-Kinetic, used as an outcome variable to assess whether differences were clinically meaningful, indicated no clinically meaningful difference between sets. The results suggest that the effects of using different anthropometric sets on the kinetic profiles of normal and diplegic cerebral palsy subjects are clinically insignificant.