Event:

Foot deformities and atypical foot posture are common issues in children with cerebral palsy and other clinical diagnoses. For affected individuals, they can lead to pain, fatigue as well as gait impairments such as toe-walking, commonly resulting in reduced quality of life and psychological well-being. In this context, functional and objective assessments of foot posture and gait biomechanics have the potential to identify pathologic foot deformities early on and to optimize interventions for a given child. However, simple quantitative assessments that specifically target foot function during gait have been lacking to date. In light of this, my talk will focus on our recent efforts in developing and evaluating innovative tools for the objective and functional assessment of foot deformities and dysfunction during gait. After giving a short introduction on my research team and its activities at the University of Alberta and the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton, I will present on two techniques that our interdisciplinary team has developed and implemented: On the one hand, the normative foot floor angle during gait is valuable for quantifying foot orientation at initial contact when the measure of ankle dorsiflexion is misleading. It is a simple kinematic measure of toe-walking, quantifying the foot’s orientation relative to the floor via classical motion capture. On the other hand, we use stationary pedobarography to quantify plantar pressure patterns during gait and obtain functionally relevant foot posture measures. These outcome measures are based on the concept of impulse and associated with specific anatomical regions of the foot. Note that both techniques are currently used to inform and evaluate surgical interventions and rehabilitation progress over time. The presentation will conclude with future recommendations for reducing the effect of foot deformities and atypical foot posture by making assessments more accessible via wearable or markerless technologies.


Zoom link: https://tum-conf.zoom.us/j/94253017197, Meeting-ID: 942 5301 7197, Kenncode: 033542