Features of Plantar Pressure Distribution of Children with Spastic Diplegia

The aim of this study was to investigate the features of plantar pressure distribution of children with spastic diplegia. Totally, 18 spastic diplegia children (SDCP) and 36 typical developed counterparts (TD) with matching age, height and weight were recruited. Their plantar pressure distributions were measured and analyzed. Three-masks model was first used to divide the foot regions: forefoot, midfoot and hindfoot, then the relative contact time (CTrel) (%), peak pressure (PP) (N/cm2), relative pressure time integral (PTIrel) (%) and relative contact area (CA) (%) were calculated. Our outcomes show that pressure variables were significantly higher than those of TD in most regions, with the exception of PP; further, a prolonged first PP curve was obtained for SDCP in the double support phase. At last, all data of SDCP were moderate for the most of variables and regions. Thereby, features of SDCP children are shown below: no bimodal pressure curve was obtained and they usually performed with valgus deformities, so that midfoot was used as a major loading area.