CLINICAL GAIT MEASUREMENT
with PEDOGRAPHS by Marjorie A. Adams, MS, PT

AUTHOR’S BIO:

The day a physician asked me if the changes we were seeing in a child’s gait were ‘significant’ and I didn’t really know what he meant, was the day I decided to learn more about what was ‘significant’ and what was not. I have been working as a Pediatric Physical Therapist since I graduated with a Certificate in Physical Therapy from Stanford University in Palo Alto, in 1953. I initially worked at Children’s Hospital in Seattle for several years, then married and started a family, but after a few years at home went back to work. While I didn’t work full time each year, I did work in different settings, including a private practice and a school for children with disabilities.

By the early ‘80’s I had quite a lot of experience working with children with cerebral palsy, and became an instructor in the Bobath Neurodevelopmental Treatment. This was the period when the need for measurement of outcomes was just becoming evident. While I taught the two month basic course in over 25 settings in the US, Canada and finally Australia, we came to use the footprint method of gait evaluation to help us decide whether there was improvement in the gait of the children over the six weeks of treatment sessions, one hour each, and twice weekly.

By the year 2000 after teaching in Australia where the research component was an integral part of the course, we were able to publish an article with findings that there was in fact improvement in the gait of children with cerebral palsy, using the Bobath intervention methods.

Adams MA, Chandler LS, Schuhmann K. Gait changes in children with cerebral palsy following a Neurodevelopmental Treatment course. Pediatric Physical Therapy 2000; 12:114-120.

This manual is result of what I have learned from the children, their parents, my colleagues, friends, and family, about the making and measuring of pedographs to evaluate gait in children, or adults. The advantages to this system are, it is possible to carry out in the clinic by therapists, the materials are easily available, and the cost is modest.

I continue to be interested in the measurement of outcomes for our interventions with children and encourage others to add to this work.

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