Does rectus femoris transfer surgery improve the muscle energetic eficence in stiff-knee gait?

RAVERA, EMILIANO; NUÑEZ, MARCOS; YEDLIN, DANIEL; SAMARA, EDUARDO; CRESPO, MARCOS; CATALFAMO FORMENTO, PAOLA

Brisbane

Congreso; XXVI Congress of the International Society of Biomechanics; 2017

International Society of Biomechanics

Stiff-knee gaitis a common gait pattern in children with cerebral palsy (CP), characterized bydiminished and delayed peak knee flexion in swing. Causes of stiff-kneegait are not well understood due to several factors contributing to it.However, over-activity of rectus femoris (RF) muscle is considered a primarycause. As a result,inappropriate activity of RF, which produces insufficient knee flexion duringswing, can lead to energy-inefficient compensatory movements. Surgicaltreatments as RF transfer aims at altering the function of this muscle toimprove the overall behavior of gait. It is in this contextthat we studied if RF transfer improved the muscle energy efficiency in subjectswith stiff-knee gait analyzing musculoskeletal simulations in pre- andpost-surgical conditions. This study foundthat Rectus Femoris transfer surgery improved the muscle energy efficiency ofRF which may improve the overall energetic behavior of subjects.