Use of the gait profile score for the evaluation of patients with joint hypermobility syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hypermobility type.
GPS gives BCBAs a single, objective gait score to spot and track walking problems in adults with hypermobility disorders.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Celletti et al. (2013) tested the Gait Profile Score (GPS) on the adults with joint hypermobility syndrome or Ehlers-Danlos hypermobility type. They also tested the adults without these conditions. Everyone walked while cameras tracked their joints. The team used the GPS to turn the motion data into one simple number. They also asked each person how hard walking felt in daily life.
What they found
Adults with hypermobility had GPS scores almost twice as high as controls. Higher GPS means worse, wobblier gait. The GPS parts called GVS also lined up with the adults' own reports of walking trouble. A single number captured what used to need pages of charts.
How this fits with other research
Lante et al. (2010) also measured adults with developmental disabilities, but they tracked energy use, not gait. Both studies show plain numbers can flag hidden movement problems. Moya et al. (2022) used the BESTest balance tool on adults with ID and found unstable-surface training helped most. GPS and BESTest both give therapists one score to watch progress, just for different skills. Ren et al. (2023) reviewed digital game training for kids with NDDs. Their meta-analysis and this GPS paper both push tech-based, easy-to-read metrics over long checklists.
Why it matters
If you serve adults who complain of 'clumsy' legs or frequent falls, run a quick 3-D gait test and compute GPS. One glance tells you if joints are sliding too much and guides your next goal. You can show clients a clear before-and-after number, just like you show graph trends for behavior reduction. No extra jargon needed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Gait analysis (GA) is widely used for clinical evaluations in various pathological states, both in children and in adults, such as in patients with joint hypermobility syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hypermobility type (JHS/EDS-HT). Otherwise, GA produces a large volume of data and there is the clinical need to provide also a quantitative measure of the patient's overall gait. Starting from this aim some global indexes were proposed by literature as a summary measure of the patient's gait, such as the Gait Profile Score (GPS). While validity of the GPS was demonstrated for the evaluation of the functional limitation of children with Cerebral Palsy, no studies have been conducted in patients JHS/EDS-HT. The aim of our study was therefore to investigate the effectiveness of the GPS in the quantification of functional limitation of patients with JHS/EDS-HT. Twenty-one adult (age: 36.1 ± 12.7 years) individuals with JHS/EDS-HT were evaluated using GA and from GA data the GPS was computed. The results evidenced that the GPS value of patients was 8.9 ± 2.6, statistically different from 4.6 ± 0.9 displayed by the control group. In particular, all values of Gait Variable Scores (GVS) which compose the GPS were higher if compared to controls, with the exception of Pelvic Tilt and Foot Progression. The correlations between GPS/GVS and Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS) showed significant relationship between GPS and the item 11 ("Walking 2 blocks") (ρ=-0.56; p<0.05) and 12 ("Walking a mile") of LEFS (ρ=-0.76; p<0.05). Our results showed that GPS and GVS seem to be appropriate outcome measures for the evaluation of the functional limitation during gait of patients with JHS/EDS-HT.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.09.019