Gait analysis in the treatment of the ambulatory child with cerebral palsy.

Surgical treatment of children with cerebral palsy has changed from staged, single joint procedures to comprehensive simultaneous bony and soft-tissue corrections. This regimen of treating multiple joint levels and planes of abnormality is subject to error when based solely on the clinical examination. A more scientific evaluation can be provided by the use of clinical gait analysis. Both preoperative and postoperative analyses provide the clinician with information from which neurologic patterns can be determined and surgical protocols can be judged.