For Patients and Visitors

Motion Analysis Lab Overview

Seeing the Unseen

The motion of a human body is difficult to evaluate by observation alone. Patterns of even the simplest movement are too complex, with many hidden factors playing roles behind the scenes. The Motion Analysis Laboratory at Children’s Hospital uses advanced technology to reveal what is going on within the body in motion.

By providing quantitative descriptions of motion, the Motion Analysis Team can not only help identify functional problems and offer recommendations for treatment but can also provide a way to measure the results. Opened in 1988, our lab was the first facility of its kind in Virginia. Today, it is one of about 50 nationwide, and serves both child and adult patients from all along the East Coast. Gait analysis, the study of walking, is the service most commonly provided, but a wide variety of other evaluations, including upper extremity analysis, are available.

A Sophisticated Evaluation

The Motion Lab uses computer technology, specialized monitoring equipment and elaborate analytical methods all part of a sophisticated evaluation customized for each patient and for the requirements of the referring physician or therapist.

Results are frequently used for surgical planning, drug planning, and orthotic and prosthetic planning, for conditions including:

  • Amputation
  • Arthritis
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Congenital abnormalities
  • Head injury
  • Movement disorders
  • Peripheral nerve injury
  • Spina bifida
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Traumatic joint or limb injury

Performed by Experts

The Motion Lab Team - physical therapists, engineers and medical director Chester Sharps, MD - offer an unsurpassed level of skill and experience in motion analysis. These professionals work together to design and conduct evaluations, construct computer models, study videotapes, analyze data and consider options for treatment.

Of course, as experts in pediatric specialty care, team members also have a unique understanding of the emotional needs of children. As a result, they know how to motivate patients, and how to make the evaluations a non-threatening, even enjoyable experience. Rather than an austere clinical process, the evaluation becomes, for example, a chance to “dress up like a robot” and “make a movie.”

Providing Results You Can Measure

Evaluations provide objective, quantitative data. Armed with the hard numbers, detailed computer models and comprehensive team analysis, referring physicians, therapists and other specialists can discover the underlying conditions and causes behind functional problems, determine treatment, and provide documentation to support insurance coverage of recommended treatment. The data is as impressive in its breadth as in its depth:

  • Time and Distance Measures (Spatial and Temporal Parameters)
  • Movement Measures (Kinematics)
  • Force Measures (Ground Reaction Forces, Joint Moments and Joint Powers)
  • Muscle Activity Measures (Functional Electromyography)

To Track Outcomes and Improve Treatment

Motion analysis provides a precise and detailed snapshot in time. And since this snapshot is quantitatively described in the comprehensive report, tracking a patient’s progress becomes a matter of repeating the testing and comparing numbers. The slightest change in any of a wide range of parameters can thereby be immediately identified.

The insights that motion analysis offers allow better informed recommendations about the likely effectiveness of treatments. Studies have shown that motion analysis of gait reduces the cost of treatment in the long run. Less follow-up care is generally needed, alternatives to surgery are more easily identified, and when surgery is required, success rates are higher.

For referrals and appointments, call (804) 228-5824.

The information on this site is provided for informational and educational purposes only; it does not contain specific medical advice. If you have specific health questions or problems, consult a health care professional for personal medical advice.