Rectus femoris transfer and musculo-skeletal modeling: effect of surgical treatment on gait and on rectus femoris kinematics.

Spasticity of the rectus femoris (RF) is one of the possible causes of stiff knee gait (SKG) in cerebral palsy. Musculoskeletal studies have shown that in SKG, length and speed of the RF are affected. No evaluation had been made to quantify the modifications of those parameters after surgery. The effect of this operation on gait quality and on RF kinematics was assessed in this study in order to identify kinematic patterns that may aid its diagnosis. For 26 transfers, clinical gait analysis pre- and post-surgery was used to compute the Gait Deviation Index (GDI) and Goldberg's index. The kinematics of the Original RF path (ORFp) was studied before and after surgery. The expression ORFp was chosen to avoid any confusion between this modeling parameter, whose computation was unchanged, and the actual anatomical path that was modified by surgery. The gait quality was improved (+18±12GDI) and there was an inverse relation between the pre-operative GDI and its improvement. The Golberg's index was improved (88% of the cases). The operation had a significant effect on the normalization of the timings of maximum length and speed of the ORFp. The improvement of SKG was correlated with the normalization of the timing of the ORFp's maximum length. The global improvement of the gait quality and of the SKG was demonstrated. Some parameters of muscular kinematics (RF length and velocity) have been standardized, showing an effect of the transfer not only during the swing, but also during stance. The premature timing of the ORFp peak length has been identified as a prognostic factor of a successful surgical outcome.