Gait and Motion Analysis Laboratory

A child’s gait is his manner or style of walking. At the Gait Analysis Lab at the duPont Hospital for Children, a multidisciplinary team including a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, a biomechanist, and a physical therapist uses state-of-the-art technology to determine the best treatment for gait disorders. Created to provide the medical community with comprehensive, technologically advanced techniques for clinical gait analysis, the Gait Analysis Lab allows physicians to gather detailed information about the timing of muscles, forces produced, and the movement of various joints. This information, coupled with observation and manual measurements, allows the Gait Analysis team to determine the best medical or surgical course of treatment. 

Services Available:

• Three-dimensional kinematic assessment
• Kinetic assessment
• Diagnostic electromyography (EMG)
• Physical therapy evaluation
• Videotaping
• Foot pressure measurement
• Oxygen consumption measurement

Typical Diagnoses/Problems:

• Cerebral palsy
• Myelomeningocele (spina bifida)
• Other neuromuscular conditions that cause serious impediment to gait and for which a major change in treatment is being considered