Clinical use of a foot tapping test - a pilot study of agonist-antagonist coordination of the ankle joint in children with cerebral palsy

摘要

Foot tapping tests with various methodologies of alternating between dorsi- and plantarflexion have been applied as a quantitative assessment of ankle plantar-dorsiflexion coordination and lower extremity motor function in healthy adults and adult neurological patients. Decreased agonist-antagonist coordination may influence balance, co-contraction and cause divergent ankle kinematic patterns during gait. This may be important information in clinical decision making. Currently, we have few objective measures to ankle coordination in children with cerebral palsy. This pilot study took an explorative approach to identifying a foot tapping test that can differentiate children with cerebral palsy (CP) from typically developing children (TD), with the purpose of validating a foot tapping test as a clinical measure of agonist-antagonist coordination.