Article
Biology
Yunru Ma, Shuyun Jiang, Kumar Mithraratne, Nichola Wilson, Yan Yu, Yanxin Zhang
Summary: This study investigated the influence of imposing pre-calculated joint angles during musculoskeletal model scaling on ankle joint angles and muscle force computation. Results showed that ankle angles derived from the PJA model had better agreement with those derived from the DK approach. Different scaling methods had varying impacts on muscle force prediction, with static optimisation being affected more for the tibialis anterior muscle and EMG-assisted modelling being influenced more for the gastrocnemius muscle.
COMPUTERS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Britta Hanssen, Nicky Peeters, Ines Vandekerckhove, Nathalie De Beukelaer, Lynn Bar-On, Guy Molenaers, Anja Van Campenhout, Marc Degelaen, Christine Van den Broeck, Patrick Calders, Kaat Desloovere
Summary: This study found a disproportional decrease in muscle size and muscle strength around the knee and ankle joint in children with spastic cerebral palsy, highlighting large variability in the contribution of muscle size to muscle weakness.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mohammad Fazle Rabbi, Laura E. Diamond, Chris P. Carty, David G. Lloyd, Giorgio Davico, Claudio Pizzolato
Summary: This study aims to develop a method to estimate activation patterns of lower limb muscles from electromyograms (EMG) measured from a small set of muscles in children with cerebral palsy. The results show that our muscle synergy extrapolation method can estimate the activation patterns of unmeasured muscles in children with cerebral palsy using only three to four experimental EMG.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Anita J. Mudge, Sinu Thilak, Elizabeth A. Wojciechowski, Joshua Burns, Simon P. Paget
Summary: This study found limited evidence that BMI substantially influences gait patterns in children with CP, but suggests that it may affect long-distance mobility. Further research strategies are needed to better understand the relationships between adiposity, strength, and function for targeted interventions to improve mobility.
OBESITY RESEARCH & CLINICAL PRACTICE
(2021)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Karen Brady, Damien Kiernan
Summary: Children with cerebral palsy have higher rates of overweight and obesity compared to their typically developed peers. However, limited studies have assessed how being overweight or obese affect lower limb kinematics during gait in these children. This retrospective analysis of a movement analysis laboratory database found that increased BMI did not result in significant changes in lower limb kinematics in children with cerebral palsy.
OBESITY RESEARCH & CLINICAL PRACTICE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Yushin Kim, Thomas C. Bulea, Diane L. Damiano
Summary: This study examines the influence of external environmental changes on muscle synergies in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and typically developing children (TD). The findings suggest that muscle synergies in children with CP are more sensitive to changes in the external walking environment.
FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Pediatrics
Marie Mostue Naume, Marianne Horby Jorgensen, Christina Engel Hoi-Hansen, Maja Risager Nielsen, Alfred Peter Born, John Vissing, Lise Borgwardt, Dorte Marianne Rohde Staerk, Mette Cathrine Orngreen
Summary: The study aimed to evaluate the nutritional and metabolic status of children with cerebral palsy, focusing on liver, body composition, and bone health. The results showed that liver fibrosis and steatosis were found in 18.2% of the patients, which may be related to altered body composition, decreased mobility, and medication use. Low skeletal muscle mass and decreased bone density were common in children with cerebral palsy, indicating the importance of monitoring their metabolic health and exploring potential risk factors. Further research is needed to investigate liver involvement and related factors in this population.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PEDIATRICS
(2023)
Article
Biophysics
Alyssa M. Spomer, Robin Z. Yan, Michael H. Schwartz, Katherine M. Steele
Summary: Muscle synergy analysis is commonly used to study motor control. This study compared synergies in normal individuals and individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) in different gait patterns. The results showed that altered gait patterns are not the primary driver of changes in synergies, highlighting the value of using synergies to capture patient-specific motor control differences.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
S. Mohammadyari Gharehbolagh, C. Dussault-Picard, D. Arvisais, P. C. Dixon
Summary: Cerebral palsy (CP) is caused by brain injury and affects muscle activation patterns during walking. Inconsistent results of studies on muscle co-contraction or co-activation (MCo/MCa) in individuals with CP limit our understanding. Understanding MCo/MCa patterns in individuals with CP may improve gait management approaches.
Article
Physiology
Yushin Kim, Thomas C. Bulea, Diane L. Damiano
Summary: The study identified specific muscle coordination patterns in children with cerebral palsy during walking and analyzed their relationships to gait performance. It found that the CP-specific synergies were related to poorer performance in terms of step length asymmetry, cadence asymmetry, self-selected treadmill speed, and AP-COM displacement of the pelvis.
FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Sujiao Li, Xueqin Luo, Song Zhang, Yuanmin Tang, Jiming Sun, Qingyun Meng, Hongliu Yu, Chengyan Sun
Summary: The study investigated changes in muscle force and tension after multilevel surgical treatments in children with spastic cerebral palsy, as well as evaluated the clinical effects of the surgeries on neuromuscular function during walking. Results showed significant improvements in muscle activation state and electromyography signals post-surgery, indicating the feasibility and effectiveness of the treatments.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Ines Vandekerckhove, Mariska Wesseling, Hans Kainz, Kaat Desloovere, Ilse Jonkers
Summary: This study explored the effect of hip muscle weakness and femoral deformities on the gait performance of children with cerebral palsy and typical developing subjects. The results showed that apparent equinus and stiff knee gait were more limited by hip weakness and femoral deformities, while jump gait, true equinus, and especially crouch were more robust. This suggests that surgical correction of femoral deformities may be more effective than strength training of hip muscles in enhancing CP gait performance.
Article
Biophysics
Benjamin C. Conner, Michael H. Schwartz, Zachary F. Lerner
Summary: The study found that ankle exoskeleton resistance therapy significantly improved neuromuscular control in children with CP, resulting in a more efficient gait pattern and reduced metabolic cost of walking.
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
(2021)
Article
Rehabilitation
Audrey Parent, Fabien Dal Maso, Annie Pouliot-Laforte, Yosra Cherni, Pierre Marois, Laurent Ballaz
Summary: This study found that children with cerebral palsy who walk with jump gait are more likely to increase knee flexion during continuous walking if they have knee extensor weakness. Fatigue in the gluteus medius muscle was observed. Physical intervention targeting the endurance of the gluteus medius muscle may improve jump gait.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATION
(2021)
Article
Rehabilitation
Audrey Parent, Fabien Dal Maso, Annie Pouliot-Laforte, Yosra Cherni, Pierre Marois, Laurent Ballaz
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate kinematic changes and muscle fatigue in children with cerebral palsy walking with jump gait, finding an association between increased knee flexion and knee extensor weakness, as well as fatigue in the gluteus medius muscle. The results suggest that interventions targeting the endurance of the gluteus medius muscle may improve jump gait in these children.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATION
(2021)
Article
Pediatrics
Nina Vens, Griet Dewitte, Hilde Van Waelvelde, Lynn Bar-On, Amy De Roubaix
Summary: This study aimed to explore the association between developmental coordination disorder (DCD) diagnosed after the age of three and both a standardized motor test and non-standardized observation of movement quality carried out before the age of three. The results suggest that DCD can be associated with poor movement quality before the age of three.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Andrea Ancillao, Maxim Vochten, Arno Verduyn, Joris De Schutter, Erwin Aertbelien
Summary: This paper proposes a novel method for estimating the average screw axis (ASA) in motion analysis, which addresses the limitations of previous methods by introducing an optimization procedure, a weighting based on angular velocity, and a regularization term for ill-defined cases. The method also allows for estimating the uncertainty in the ASA calculation and provides a detailed analysis of the dispersion of instantaneous screw axes (ISAs) with respect to the ASA.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Kirsten Veerkamp, Marjolein M. van der Krogt, Jaap Harlaar, Thomas D. O'Brien, Barbara Kalkman, Ajay Seth, Lynn Bar-On
Summary: Personalized estimation of musculotendon parameters can improve the accuracy of simulating muscle mechanics in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and typically developing children (TD). Compared to TD children, children with CP have significantly longer tendon slack lengths and shorter optimal fiber lengths. In addition, both groups show significantly higher personalized tendon compliance.
ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Andrea Ancillao, Erwin Aertbelien, Joris De Schutter
Summary: The presence of soft tissue artifact (STA) in marker-based motion capture recordings can lead to errors in the estimation of motion and position of body segments. This study examined a dataset of subjects who underwent total knee arthroplasty and found that STA affected the estimation of the instantaneous helical axis (IHA) for both position and direction. The choice of reference configuration also influenced the analysis of STA.
MEDICAL ENGINEERING & PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Pedro Valadao, Lynn Bar-On, Francesco Cenni, Harri Piitulainen, Janne Avela, Taija Finni
Summary: Hyper-resistance, an increased resistance to passive muscle stretch commonly seen in neurological disorders, can be measured by stretch reflex threshold. In this study, we propose a correction method for calculating the stretch reflex threshold by considering stretch reflex latency, and evaluate its effect on children and young adults with spastic cerebral palsy.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Nicky Peeters, Britta Hanssen, Lynn Bar -On, Friedl De Groote, Nathalie De Beukelaer, Marjan Coremans, Christine Van den Broeck, Bernard Dan, Anja Van Campenhout, Kaat Desloovere
Summary: Given the heterogeneous clinical presentation of spastic cerebral palsy (SCP), this study aimed to investigate the association between spasticity and muscle morphology, as well as compare muscle morphology in different spasticity patterns.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Babette Mooijekind, Eline Flux, Annemieke I. Buizer, Marjolein M. van der Krogt, Lynn Bar-On
Summary: This study investigates the influence of wearing an ultrasound probe on the medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles and tendons during gait in children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) and typically developing (TD) children. The results show that wearing an ultrasound probe causes minimal gait alterations and muscle-tendon length changes, which are similar in CP and TD.
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Britta Hanssen, Nicky Peeters, Tijl Dewit, Ester Huyghe, Bernard Dan, Guy Molenaers, Anja Van Campenhout, Lynn Bar-On, Christine Van den Broeck, Patrick Calders, Kaat Desloovere
Summary: This study examined the reliability of 3-dimensional freehand ultrasound (3DfUS) for measuring muscle size, length, and echo-intensity in children with spastic cerebral palsy (SCP) and typical development (TD). The results showed high reliability for muscle size and length measures, with some variation depending on the muscle, rater, and session. Echo-intensity measures had lower reliability, but absolute reliability was better for distal muscles compared to proximal muscles. Overall, 3DfUS appears to be a reliable tool for assessing muscle morphology in children with SCP and TD, but further investigation is needed for certain parameters.
JOURNAL OF ANATOMY
(2023)
Review
Rehabilitation
Charlotte Johnson, Ann Hallemans, Mieke Goetschalckx, Pieter Meyns, Eugene Rameckers, Katrijn Klingels, Evi Verbecque
Summary: This article examines functional tests for evaluating postural control deficits in children and summarizes the available assessment tools and their psychometric properties. The study found that currently only two functional tests encompass the entire construct of postural control. While reliability is generally good, validity results depend on the task, age, and pathology. Future research should focus on test batteries and particularly explore structural validity and responsiveness in different populations with strong study designs.
ANNALS OF PHYSICAL AND REHABILITATION MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gilad Sorek, Marije Goudriaan, Itai Schurr, Simon-Henri Schless
Summary: This study aimed to investigate longitudinal changes in selective motor control during gait (SMCg) in individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) and assess their relationship with changes in gait deviations. The results showed that on average, there were no significant longitudinal changes in SMCg. However, there was considerable variability between individuals, which may be related to changes in hip joint kinematics.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Andrea Ancillao, Arno Verduyn, Maxim Vochten, Erwin Aertbelien, Joris De Schutter
Summary: In this paper, a novel method is proposed to functionally define two coordinate systems attached to the femur and tibia, and to calculate the knee angle based on the relative differential kinematics between the previously defined coordinate systems. The method accurately captures and displays the relative angular motion of the knee, even when the measured coordinate systems are randomly modified.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Maxim Vochten, Ali Mousavi Mohammadi, Arno Verduyn, Tinne De Laet, Erwin Aertbelien, Joris De Schutter
Summary: This article introduces invariant descriptors for force trajectories by exploiting the duality between motion and force. Experimental results show that the invariant descriptors can represent task motions in contact without depending on the calibration of reference frames or sensor locations. The proposed method may be useful for recognizing and generalizing object manipulation motions during contact.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS
(2023)
Proceedings Paper
Automation & Control Systems
Alexander Antonio Oliva, Erwin Aertbelien, Joris De Schutter, Paolo Robuffo Giordano, Francois Chaumette
Summary: This work presents the application of dynamic visual servoing for moving targets and explores the possibility of using this controller to interact with the environment. The derivation of a feature space impedance controller for tracking a moving object and an Extended Kalman Filter based on visual servoing kinematics for estimating the target velocity are illustrated. Simulations and experiments are conducted to validate the performance of the estimator during a Peg-in-Hole insertion task with a moving part.
2022 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION (ICRA 2022)
(2022)
Proceedings Paper
Automation & Control Systems
Riccardo Burlizzi, Maxim Vochten, Joris De Schutter, Erwin Aertbelien
Summary: This paper studies the use of virtual demonstrations to extend the extrapolation capabilities of probabilistic motion models, reducing the required number of real demonstrations and cost.
2022 IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS (IROS)
(2022)
Proceedings Paper
Automation & Control Systems
Umut Caliskan, Federico Ulloa Rios, Wilm Decre, Erwin Aertbelien
Summary: This paper introduces a constraint-based control architecture for a wheeled mobile manipulator to assist in handling tasks. Experiments validate the effectiveness of the approach in improving task accuracy and operator comfort.
2022 IEEE 18TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AUTOMATION SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (CASE)
(2022)