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Rectus Femoris Transfer Improves Stiff Knee Gait in Children With Spastic Cerebral Palsy

  • Symposium: Current Approaches in Cerebral Palsy, A Focus on Gait Problems
  • Published:
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®

Abstract

Background

Stiff knee gait is common among children with ambulatory cerebral palsy (CP). When surgery is indicated, rectus femoris transfer as a primary treatment enhances knee range of motion, reduces time to peak knee flexion, increases peak knee flexion, and reduces toe drag.

Questions/purposes

We determined whether (1) distal rectus femoris transfer improved knee range of motion, time to peak knee flexion, peak knee flexion, and toe drag in children with CP diagnosed with stiff knee gait; and (2) patients in some subgroups (eg, those with relatively high knee range of motion compared with those with low knee range of motion before rectus femoris transfer) had greater improvement in these parameters.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed gait data from 56 patients (99 limbs) preoperatively, short-term, and long-term. Subgroup analyses were performed to determine whether patients with high knee range of motion relative to those with low or moderate knee range of motion improved differentially after rectus femoris transfer. The minimum followup was 7 years (mean ± SD, 10 ± 2 years; range, 7–13 years).

Results

The mean peak knee flexion increased from baseline to short-term and to long-term followup. Patients with low peak knee flexion had the greatest improvement of peak knee flexion after rectus femoris transfer relative to the moderate and high peak knee flexion subgroups. Similarly, the greatest improvement after rectus femoris transfer for knee range of motion occurred in the low knee range of motion subgroup relative to moderate and high subgroups. Rectus femoris transfer improved mean time to peak knee flexion at short-term and long-term followup compared with baseline. Likewise, there was a decrease in toe drag at short- and long-term after rectus femoris transfer.

Conclusion

Distal rectus femoris transfer selectively improved peak knee flexion, toe drag, and reduced time to peak knee flexion in ambulatory children with CP with stiff knee gait.

Level of Evidence

Level IV, therapeutic study. See guidelines for authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr Kenneth Rogers and Mr Dustin Sample for the coordination of the materials used in this research and for editorial assistance, respectively. We also thank Ms Joyce Bright for her assistance in gathering the literature used in the preparation of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics, Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, 1600 Rockland Road, Wilmington, DE, 19803, USA

    Dinesh Thawrani MD, Thierry Haumont MD, Chris Church MS, PT, Larry Holmes Jr PhD, DrPH, Kirk W. Dabney MD & Freeman Miller MD

Authors
  1. Dinesh Thawrani MD
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  2. Thierry Haumont MD
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  3. Chris Church MS, PT
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  4. Larry Holmes Jr PhD, DrPH
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  5. Kirk W. Dabney MD
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  6. Freeman Miller MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Freeman Miller MD.

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Each author certifies that he or she, or a member of their immediate family, has no commercial associations (eg, consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.

All ICMJE Conflict of Interest Forms for authors and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research editors and board members are on file with the publication and can be viewed on request.

Each author certifies that his or her institution approved the human protocol for this investigation, that all investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research, and that informed consent for participation in the study was obtained.

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Thawrani, D., Haumont, T., Church, C. et al. Rectus Femoris Transfer Improves Stiff Knee Gait in Children With Spastic Cerebral Palsy. Clin Orthop Relat Res 470, 1303–1311 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-011-2215-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-011-2215-1

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