Correlations of the Gait Profile Score and the Movement Analysis Profile relative to clinical judgments

Beynon, Sarah; McGinley, Jennifer L.; Dobson, Fiona; Baker, Richard

doi:10.1016/j.gaitpost.2010.01.010

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Volume 32, Issue 1 , Pages 129-132, May 2010

Correlations of the Gait Profile Score and the Movement Analysis Profile relative to clinical judgments

Sarah Beynon
- Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
Jennifer L. McGinley
- Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
- School of Physiotherapy, The University of Melbourne, Australia
- Corresponding author at: Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Hugh Williamson Gait Laboratory, Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia. Tel.: +61 3 9345 5354; fax: +61 3 93455447.
Fiona Dobson
- Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
Richard Baker
- Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Australia
- School of Physiotherapy, The University of Melbourne, Australia
- School of Physiotherapy and National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics, La Trobe University, Australia

Received 31 August 2009; received in revised form 11 January 2010; accepted 12 January 2010. published online 04 March 2010.

Abstract

The Gait Profile Score (GPS) is a single index measure that summarises the overall deviation of kinematic gait data relative to normative data. The GPS can be decomposed to provide Gait Variable Scores (GVS) of nine key component kinematic gait variables, which are presented as a Movement Analysis Profile (MAP). The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the GPS and MAP relative to clinician judgments.

Kinematic data were selected from 60 children and inspected by 17 experienced clinicians. The degree of abnormality of the overall unilateral gait pattern and the nine kinematic variables was rated according to a 0–10 point scale.

Strong, significant, positive correlations were found between the GPS and MAP component scores, and clinicians’ ratings of kinematic gait deviation, with Spearman correlations ranging from 0.84 to 0.97. These high correlations provide evidence that the GPS and the MAP have criterion-related validity relative to clinician judgments. We propose that the GPS and particularly its MAP decomposition may be useful in clinical practice and education as an adjunct to the traditional presentation of complex kinematic data.

Keywords: Gait pathology, Gait Profile Score, Movement Analysis Profile, Outcome, Kinematics