Gait Assessment (Shriners Gait Lab)

The Shriners Gait Lab is a joint project of Children’s Hospital, Sunny Hill Health Centre and the Gizeh Shriners of BC and Yukon. The Shriners Gait Lab conducts clinical assessments of children with walking disorders.

Before computerized gait analysis was developed, clinicians had to rely on what they saw as a patient walked. As we know, there are many complex movements and relationships between body segments as one walks. Even for a trained clinician it is difficult, if not impossible, to see and understand what is happening as we walk.

Computerized gait analysis systems, such as the one that is in the Shriners Gait Lab, allow clinicians to see gait patterns at up to 240 frames per second for kinematic data, and up to 1,000 frames per second for kinetic and analogue data such as EMG. With computerized gait analysis also comes the ability to quantify the patterns of walking and compare them to normal patterns.

Once we have collected multiple trials of kinematic data, we calculate, normalize, and average angle data and plot it against normal age-matched data. Force and EMG data are also matched and compared to normal data. Other calculated data are also compared. From ground reaction force data and joint position data, we are able to calculate joint moments or joint torques and joint powers. With these we are able to understand the effect of muscles as they cross joints such as the ankle, knee and the hip.

After data collection and analysis, the Shriners Gait Lab team discuss each patient seen in the lab. The discussion includes joint ranges of motion, manual muscle tests and protective and equilibrium reactions data collected by the physiotherapist, video assessment, kinematic comparisons, kinetic data, EMG data, as well as joint moments and powers. Using all these sources, the team is then able to understand underlying mechanical problems and tries to create a functional profile and appropriate recommendations.

Since its inception in 1996, the Shriners Gait Lab staff have worked with more than 1,800 kids.

Contact person: Alec Black

For more information, contact the team leader by calling the Sunny Hill switchboard at 604-453-8300.

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PHSA improves the health of British Columbians by seeking province-wide solutions to specialized health care needs in collaboration with BC health authorities and other partners. For more information, visit http://www.phsa.ca

PHSA agencies include: BC Cancer Agency, BC Centre for Disease Control, BC Children’s Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, BC Mental Health & Addiction Services, BC Provincial Renal Agency, BC Transplant, BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre, and Cardiac Services BC.