'Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RCOG)'
Abstract
Eighteen children with hemiplegia, mean age 8 years 5
months, underwent gait analysis and musculoskeletal
modelling using specially designed software. The maximum
lengths of the hamstrings were determined for each child
walking in and out of an ankle–foot orthosis (AFO). The
muscles were deemed to be short if shorter than the normal
average – 1SD. In bare feet 8 participants had short medial
hamstrings with a higher proportion of these in the less
involved individuals. All participants showed an increase in
maximum hamstring length when wearing an AFO. In all but
one child this was sufficient to restore hamstring length to
within normal limits. These finding suggest that hamstring
pathology in hemiplegic gait is usually secondary to more
distal lower limb pathology
