Gait kinematic analysis in patients with a mild form of central cord syndrome

Incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI), comprising about 30% of cases, is the most frequent form of SCI [1]. The central cord syndrome (CCS) is considered the most common incomplete SCI syndrome with a reported incidence varying from 15.7% to 25% [2]. CCS was first described by Schneider as a condition that is associated with sacral sparing and it is characterized by motor weakness that affects more the upper extremities than the lower limbs [3]. Independent ambulation was achieved in 87-97% in younger patients compared to 31-41% in patients older than 50 years at the time of injury [4].

The effect that the level of the lesion has on spasticty during walking has been studied in SCI patients [5], as have the changes in gait in patients with cervical myelopathy following therapeutic interventions [6], and even the gait of children and adolescents with SCI [7]. However, there are few studies that have focused on the biomechanics of gait in patients with CCS. To date, comparative biomechanical data has only been obtained in such patients for gait aided by one or two walking sticks [8]. However, the need to use biomechanical analyses to evaluate this patient group has been already emphasised [7, 9]. The specific walking disorders occurring after incomplete SCI have been scarcely described in the literature. A recent study described the disturbances in the gait patterns of children and adolescents with SCI underscoring the importance of gait analysis as a tool to take therapeutic decisions, such as the prescription of orthosis or a surgical procedure, and to evaluate the patient during treatment or after surgical intervention [7].

Walking problems following CCS and other incomplete SCI syndromes have led to a wave of interest in using specific treatments, such as botulinum toxin type A [10] in combination with splinting to correct gait patterns. Different gait analyses have been carried out in several neuro-motor disorders [6, 11, 12]. These studies provide the basis to describe the type of gait disturbances that can be expected in these groups of patients and serve to define a rehabilitation therapy with realistic goals. In this context, the aim of the present study is to analyze the gait characteristics of subjects with CCS in order to quantify their gait pattern, and to compare these findings with a healthy age and sex matched control group using three-dimensional gait analysis walking at a self selected speed and at similar speed in both groups. The hypothesis tested was that kinematic values would in most cases be significantly different to those from a normal population, not only in the spatial-temporal parameters of gait but also in the joint motion. Accordingly, the findings obtained from the kinematic analysis of gait performed here should help to define the treatment necessary to resolve the problems detected.

The aim of this study was to objectively and quantitatively analyze and evaluate the gait of patients with CCS using three-dimensional kinematic movement analysis equipment, and to compare them with healthy subjects. This comparison was made at both a self-selected speed and at a matched speed in order to avoid any variation due to velocity. The main findings of this study should serve to define the basic rehabilitation strategies for CCS patients.

The results of our study reveal that not only do patients with CCS walk at a slower speed but also, that they display a series of kinematic alterations such as a smaller range of movement in the sagittal plane of the knee, greater abduction of the hip at the initial contact and during the oscillation phase, as well as a diminished range of joint movement in the ankle.

Some of these kinematic findings coincide with the data published elsewhere regarding the gait of patients with incomplete SCI [18, 19], such as the limited flexion of the knee during the oscillation phase. Previously, the limited flexion of the knee during the oscillation phase was explained by the antagonistic action of the rectus femoris muscle and of the Vastus lateralis [18], leading to the recommendation that strategies are adopted to stretch these muscles or other such adaptations of clinical treatments to improve these patients' capacity to walk. This limited flexion in our group of patients was also evident, although we cannot confirm that it is due to the antagonistic action of the quadriceps since we did not register the electromyographic activity.

In our patients, the range of knee movement was diminished in the sagittal plane, whereby the knee was more flexed during the support phase and less flexed than in the control group during the oscillation phase. This reduced range of knee flexion has been observed in other studies of patients with paraplegic-spastic gait of diverse aetiology, in which this limitation was proposed to be correlated with the degree of spasticity [5]. The degree of spasticity is mild in our sample of patients, and they suffer no passive limitation to the joint movement. Accordingly, this alteration might be due to a specific loss muscle control, as suggested previously [20].

The reduced joint movement of the knee and ankle in the sagittal plane is not accompanied by a reduction in the hip, as seen elsewhere [6]. The normal peak of plantar flexion of the ankle is also diminished in patients with CCS and as occurs in other neurological disorders, this contributes to the reduced walking speed [21].

From a clinical point of view, the data obtained suggest that in patients with CCS, we should preferentially work on lengthening the ischiotibialis muscles and on muscle coordination to try to reduce the knee flexion at initial contact, and not only on strengthening the muscles. Indeed, while some studies indicate that an increase in strength in the lower limbs is related with an improvement in gait [22], others consider that this is not always the case [23].

Likewise, we also recommend stretching the anterior rectus femoris and the Vastus lateralis to help increase knee flexion during the oscillation phase and in general, to improve the range of knee mobility in the sagittal plane [18].

One issue that cannot be overlooked is the walking speed. It has been demonstrated that the speed at which we walk conditions the kinematic variables of our gait [13]. Our patients walk at a slower speed than the control group when walking at the self-selected speed, with shorter strides and a lower cadence, while the double support phase was longer. It has been reported that decreasing gait speed might be useful to prevent a fall when gait is perturbed [24, 25].

These findings agree with earlier studies of patients with different neurological diseases such as patients with spastic paraplegia [26], cervical myelopathy [6] or Duchenne's muscular dystrophy [11]. For this reason, the subjects in the control group were also made to walk at a similar speed as the group of patients with CCS. For the control subjects to walk more slowly, they reduced the length of their stride and their cadence, and they increased the duration of the support phase, as demonstrated in previous studies [13]. In this way, we ensured that the speed did not influence the kinematic variables, although we must also bear in mind that this may introduce a certain bias in the data from the control group since walking slowly may modify their normal gait.

Since there are many parameters that can be obtained from gait analysis, it is necessary to take into account the reliability of measurements in different joint planes. In marker based gait analysis, some of these parameters can be obtained with greater precision (hip and knee ROM in the sagittal plane) than others (such as hip or knee rotation), since a larger movement is measured.

There are certain limitations associated with this study, the principal one being the lack of kinetic and electromyographic data. Since we are aware of the importance of such data, we have now introduced the necessary modifications to our equipment so that these parameters can be incorporated in future studies. Despite this limitation, the data regarding gait has been collected from the largest group of CCS patients yet studied. To date, the only study of CCS patients published using a three-dimensional analysis of movement to evaluate the kinematics of gait did not describe the pattern obtained in these patients but rather, it compared these CCS patients walking with the aid of one or two walking sticks to evaluate the improvement in this population [8]. Thus, there was no attempt to describe the kinematic differences with respect to a control group of subjects. Hence, we consider that our data represents the first attempt to define the alterations in joint movement associated with this type of disorder, which should help improve the strategies adopted in rehabilitation therapies.

We believe it is difficult to perform studies on this type of population given that there is still no clear consensus regarding the diagnostic criteria. However, a recent review concluded [27] established that the existence of a difference of at least 10 points between the motor index of upper and lower limbs served as a good diagnostic criterion for CCS [27]. In our cohort, the mean difference in the motor index of upper and lower limbs was 8.5 points. Although we are aware that this does not reach the minimum threshold of 10 points, the difference is small and as such, the results presented here are likely to be relevant. Nevertheless, the small difference in the motor index found leads us to assume that our group of patients suffer a mild form of CCS.

CCS patients experience a decrease of knee and ankle sagittal motion during level walking and an increase of hip abduction. The reduction in the range of motion of these joints cannot be attributed to increased spasticity but rather to other compensatory mechanisms aimed at improving gait stability, and to the neural damage suffered by the patients.

The findings of this study help to improve the understanding how CCS affects gait changes in the lower limbs and how to design rehabilitation strategies for their treatment.

Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this research and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in chief of this journal.