A new child-friendly 3D bimanual protocol to assess upper limb movement in children with unilateral cerebral palsy: Development and validation

Marine Cacioppo (1, 2, 3) , Antoine Marin (4) , Hélène Rauscent (1) , Estelle Le Pabic (1) , Florence Gaillard (4) , Sylvain Brochard (3) , Ronan Garlantézec (1) , Armel Crétual (4) , Isabelle Bonan (1, 5)

1 Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Rennes [CHU Rennes] = Rennes University Hospital [Ponchaillou]
2 Optimisation Continue des Actions Thérapeutiques par l'Intégration d'Informations Multimodales
3 CHU - BREST - Orthopédie - CHRU Brest - Service chirurgie orthopédique et traumatologique
4 M2S - Laboratoire Mouvement Sport Santé
5 Empenn - Neuroimagerie: méthodes et applications

Unilateral cerebral palsy (uCP) causes upper limb movement disorders that impact on daily activities, especially in bimanual condition. However, a few studies have proposed bimanual tasks for 3D motion analysis. The aim of this study was to validate the new version of a child-friendly, 3D, bimanual protocol for the measurement of joint angles and movement quality variables. Twenty children with uCP and 20 typically developing children (TDC) performed the five-task protocol integrated into a game scenario. Each task specifically targeted one or two upper limb degrees of freedom. Joint angles, smoothness and trajectory straightness were calculated. Elbow extension, supination, wrist extension and adduction amplitudes were reduced; hand trajectories were less smooth and straight in children with uCP compared to TDC. Correlations between the performance-based score and kinematic variables were strong. High within and between-session reliability was found for most joint angle variables and lower reliability was found for smoothness and straightness in most tasks. The results therefore demonstrated the validity and reliability of the new protocol for the objective assessment of bimanual function in children with uCP. The evaluation of both joint angles and movement quality variables should increase understanding of pathological movement patterns and help clinicians to optimize treatment. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03888443.

Mots clés: Unilateral cerebral palsy; Three-dimensional motion analysis; Upper limb; Bimanual task; Movement quality

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Marine Cacioppo, Antoine Marin, Hélène Rauscent, Estelle Le Pabic, Florence Gaillard, et al.. A new child-friendly 3D bimanual protocol to assess upper limb movement in children with unilateral cerebral palsy: Development and validation. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 2020, 55, pp.102481. ⟨10.1016/j.jelekin.2020.102481⟩. ⟨hal-03099702⟩