Article

The calf muscle-tendon lengths in children exhibiting equinus gait in two
clinical populations, cerebral palsy (CP) and idiopathic toe walking (ITW), were
examined to compare the effects of diagnosis and two different surgical
procedures, Tendo-Achilles lengthening (TAL) versus Vulpius procedure (VP)
gastrocnemius recession. Pre- and post-surgical gait data were obtained from 38
subjects (58 limbs) and 38 age-matched controls. Peak muscle-tendon lengths
increased following surgery in 84% of limbs. For medial gastrocnemius (MGAS) and
lateral gastrocnemius (LGAS) in stance, muscle-tendon lengths increased
significantly following TAL surgeries but were not significantly different pre-
and post-VP surgeries. For soleus (SOL) (swing and stance) and MGAS and LGAS
(swing), muscle-tendon lengths increased significantly following both TAL and VP
surgeries. Pre-operatively, muscle-tendon lengths were significantly shorter for
the TAL group compared to the VP group; however, post-operatively the lengths
were not significantly different between the surgeries. There were no significant
differences between CP and ITW patients or indications that the surgery affected
the groups differently. The change in length following surgery was well
correlated to the subjects' initial muscle-tendon length.

Langue : ANGLAIS