Objective. The minimum clinically important difference (MCID) is a standard way of measuring clinical relevance. The objective of this work was to establish the MCID for the 6-minute walking test (6minWT) and the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-88) in pediatric gait disorders. Methods. A cohort, pretest-posttest study was conducted in a hospitalized care setting. A total of 182 patients with acquired brain injury (ABI) or cerebral palsy (CP) performed 20 robot-assisted gait training sessions complemented with 20 sessions of physical therapy over 4 weeks. Separate MCIDs were calculated using 5 distribution-based approaches, complemented with an anonymized survey completed by clinical professionals. Results. The MCID range for the 6minWT was 20-38 m in the ABI cohort, with subgroup ranges of 20-36 m for GMFCS I-II, 23-46 m for GMFCS III, and 24-46 m for GMFCS IV. MCIDs for the CP population were 6-23 m, with subgroup ranges of 4-28 m for GMFCS I-II, 9-19 m for GMFCS III, and 10-27 m for GMFCS IV. For GMFM-88 total score, MCID values were 1.1%-5.3% for the ABI cohort and 0.1%-3.0% for the CP population. For dimension “D” of the GMFM, MCID ranges were 2.3%-6.5% and 0.8%-5.2% for ABI and CP populations, respectively. For dimension “E,” MCID ranges were 2.8%-6.5% and 0.3%-4.9% for ABI and CP cohorts, respectively. The survey showed a large interquartile range, but the results well mimicked the distribution-based methods. Conclusions. This study identified for the first time MCID ranges for 6minWT and GMFM-88 in pediatric patients with neurological impairments, offering useful insights for clinicians to evaluate the impact of treatments. Distribution-based methods should be used with caution: methods based on pre-post correlation may underestimate MCID when applied to patients with small improvements over the treatment period. Our results should be complemented with estimates obtained using consensus- and anchor-based approaches.

Immersive virtual reality (IVR) offers new possibilities to perform treatments in an ecological and interactive environment with multimodal online feedbacks. Sixteen school-aged children (mean age 11 ± 2.4 years) with Bilateral CP-diplegia, attending mainstream schools were recruited for a pilot study in a pre-post treatment experimental design. The intervention was focused on walking competences and endurance and performed by the Gait Real-time Analysis Interactive Lab (GRAIL), an innovative treadmill platform based on IVR. The participants underwent eighteen therapy sessions in 4 weeks. Functional evaluations, instrumental measures including GAIT analysis and parental questionnaire were utilized to assess the treatment effects. Walking pattern (stride length left and right side, respectively p = 0.001 and 0.003; walking speed p = 0.001), endurance (6MWT, p = 0.026), gross motor abilities (GMFM-88, p = 0.041) and most kinematic and kinetic parameters significantly improved after the intervention. The changes were mainly predicted by age and cognitive abilities. The effect could have been due to the possibility of IVR to foster integration of motor/perceptual competences beyond the training of the walking ability, giving a chance of improvement also to older and already treated children.

Single-treatment approaches seem to be more effective than mixed approaches, independently from the duration (4 or 10 weeks). RAGT seems to have similar effect with respect to the traditional TOP, at least over 10 weeks.

Purpose: Human navigation skills are essential for everyday life and rely on several cognitive abilities, among which visual-spatial competences that are impaired in subjects with cerebral palsy (CP). In this work, we proposed navigation tasks in immersive virtual reality (IVR) to 15 children with CP and 13 typically developing (TD) peers in order to assess the individual navigation strategies and their modifiability in a situation resembling real life.Methods: We developed and adapted to IVR an application based on a 5-way maze in a playground that was to be navigated to find a reward. The learning process, navigation strategies, and adaptation to changes were compared between participants with CP and their TD peers and correlated with visual-spatial abilities and cognitive competences.Results: Most participants with CP needed more attempts than TD participants to become proficient in navigation. Furthermore, the learning phase was correlated to visual-spatial memory but not with cognitive competences. Interestingly, navigation skills were comparable between groups after stabilization. While TD participants mainly relied on allocentric strategies based on environmental cues, egocentric (self-centered) strategies based on body motion prevailed in participants with CP. Furthermore, participants with CP had more difficulties in modifying their navigation strategies, caused by difficulties in executive processes beyond the visual-perceptual impairment, with an inefficient shift between implicit and explicit competences.Conclusions: The navigation abilities in participants with CP seem to be different from their TD peers in terms of learning and adaptation to new conditions; this could deeply affect their everyday life and ultimately participation and inclusion. A regular assessing and focused rehabilitative plans could help to better navigate the environment and affect self-perception.

Aim To assess changes in locomotion and balance in adolescents affected by ataxia secondary to acquired brain injury after a rehabilitation treatment with physiotherapy and the Gait Real-time Analysis Interactive Lab (GRAIL), an immersive virtual reality platform. Methods 11 ataxic adolescents (16(5) years old, 4.7(6.7) years from injury) underwent 20 45-minute sessions with GRAIL plus 20 45-minute sessions of physiotherapy in one month. Patients were assessed before and after rehabilitation with functional scales and three-dimensional multiple-step gait analysis. Results Results showed significant improvements in ataxia score assessed by the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia, in dimension D and E of Gross Motor Function Measure, in walking endurance and in balance abilities. Moreover, the training fostered significant changes at hip, knee, and ankle joints, and the decrease of gait variability, toward healthy references. Interpretation In spite of the pilot nature of the study, data suggest that training with immersive virtual reality and physiotherapy is a promising approach for ataxic gait rehabilitation, even in chronic conditions.