Abstract
One of the main goals of therapy in cerebral palsy (CP) is improvement of quality of life and making activities od daily life easier. Key role in both is improvement of independence and physical functioning which depends on quality of ambulation and fatigability to great extent.
Both these factors depend on energy cost of walking. Energy cost may be assesed with exercise test.
Parameters of oxygen utilization and heart rate are measured and computed. If available, should we prefer oxygen utilization parameters over heart rate measurement and treadmill over free surface testing.
The most sensitive parameters are oxygen cost (O2 / speed in m.min-1) and Physiological Cost Index (heart rate acceleration / speed). The advantage of oxygen utilization data is a good reproducibility.
Measurement of heart rate is easy and feasible in field. Reference values are available.
Energy cost of walking reflects postoperative development and may be used in prescription of assistive devices.