Multidimensional Measures of Physical Activity and Their Association with Gross Motor Capacity in Children and Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

The current lack of adapted performance metrics leads clinicians to focus on what children with cerebral palsy (CP) do in a clinical setting, despite the ongoing debate on whether capacity (what they do at best) adequately reflects performance (what they do in daily life). Our aim was to measure these children’s habitual physical activity (PA) and gross motor capacity and investigate their relationship. Using five synchronized inertial measurement units (IMU) and algorithms adapted to this population, we computed 22 PA states integrating the type (e.g., sitting, walking, etc.), duration, and intensity of PA. Their temporal sequence was visualized with a PA barcode from which information about pattern complexity and the time spent in each of the six simplified PA states (PAS; considering PA type and duration, but not intensity) was extracted and compared to capacity. Results of 25 children with CP showed no strong association between motor capacity and performance, but a certain level of motor capacity seems to be a prerequisite for the achievement of higher PAS. Our multidimensional performance measurement provides a new method of PA assessment in this population, with an easy-to-understand visual output (barcode) and objective data for clinical and scientific use.