Range of motion in children with spastic diplegia, GMFCS I-II compared to age and gender matched controls.

Measurements of passive range of motion are often used to define the degree of muscle shortening in children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. However, little is known about the expected values of passive range of motion measurements in children with spastic diplegia and how these might differ from age and gender matched norms taken from the same population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare eight lower limb measurements of sagittal plane passive range of motion in 22 children with spastic diplegia, GMFCS I to II, with 22 matched controls. Children with spastic diplegia had minimal hip extension loss, but reduced hamstring length, with popliteal angle averaging -59.2+/-10.6 degrees (control -38.8+/-13.4 degrees, p < 0.001) and SLR averaging 52.7+/-10.2 degrees (control 75.8+/-11.1 degrees, p < 0.001). Ankle dorsiflexion with knee extension averaged -2.5+/-8.4 degrees in children with spastic diplegia (control 8.6+/-6.8 degrees, p < 0.001). These data confirmed that children with mild spastic diplegia had some restriction in passive range of motion compared to controls but that there was considerable variability between individuals.