Pediatric Movement Disorders - Diagnostic Methods

Kinematic and Dynamic

There is increasing experience with the use of direct quantitative measurements of movement to assess motor disorders in children. The greatest experience has come from computerized studies of body movements during walking or standing (gait analysis); a formal gait analysis allows a determination of specific abnormalities as well as suggestions for treatment. Kinematics is the study of the position of the limbs that the child uses; dynamics studies access the forces applied to achieve those positions. The combination of kinematic and dynamic analyses may be helpful when attempting to determine whether orthopedic surgery or botulinum toxin injections might be helpful for a particular child.