Instrumented Gait Analysis (IGA) for Management of Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Needs Assessment Survey.

Purpose: This needs assessment survey identifies the priorities of the clinical and research communities involved with the use of instrumented gait analysis (IGA) for a clinical practice guideline on IGA use with children with cerebral palsy (CP).
Methods: Thirteen Likert scale questions asked about the importance of topics related to IGA. Other questions addressed respondents' demographics, experience with IGA, patient populations, and gait laboratory characteristics. Several open-ended questions were included and analyzed.
Results: The survey was completed by 43 physical therapists and 53 non-physical therapists involved with IGA. More than 90% rated the following as critically or highly important: reliability and validity of IGA to identify gait pathology (94%); ability to longitudinally track gait pathology (93%); use in planning interventions (93%); use in evaluating outcomes (93%); and definition of IGA (90%).
Conclusions and Recommendations for Clinical Practice: This needs assessment survey identified the topic priorities of clinicians and practitioners who use IGA for the management of children with CP. These results will guide the development of a clinical practice guideline on the use of IGA for the management of CP.
Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2022 Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy of the American Physical Therapy Association.)