Muscle synergies demonstrate only minimal changes after treatment in cerebral palsy.

This was a retrospective analysis of clinical motion analysis data collected during usual care. The time before and after treatment varied. Usual rehabilitation, growth, and development were not separated from treatment effects. Some children used assistive devices or therapist support while walking, which can alter biomechanics and muscle activity. The electromyography analysis covered eight muscles, and some channels had poor or missing data. The number and quality of walking trials varied between children and sessions. Many outcomes were tested, and the selective dorsal rhizotomy speed change did not remain significant after multiple comparison correction. The study did not examine muscles not recorded during standard clinical gait analysis.

Funding came from MD-Paedigree, KU Leuven internal funding, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Washington Research Foundation, and the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research. The article gives no author conflict disclosures.

Do not read the improved gait deviation index after single event multi level orthopedic surgery plus usual rehabilitation as evidence that the treatment made muscle coordination more typical. Synergy weights did not change, and the small changes in single synergy variance moved children away from typical patterns.