Your appointment will be held on the 1st floor of Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands Outpatient Building. Please arrive at least 15 minutes before the appointment time. If you are late, you may need to reschedule. Check in with the front desk staff and let them know that you are here for a motion analysis assessment. The assessment will take place in two parts and will take approximately 2-3 hours. Please review the instructions below.
The physical therapist will meet you in the waiting room and take you/your child to the exam room.
Your child’s height and weight will be measured on the way to the exam room.
The physical therapist will measure your child’s leg strength, range of motion, alignment, tone and motor skills. This will take approximately 1-1.5 hours.
After this portion of the appointment, there will be time for a short break.
After the short break, your child will change into tight-fitting shorts.
The physical therapist will ask your child to stand still on a special mat for 5 seconds to measure the pressure under their feet.
Next, the physical therapist will ask your child to stand while the technician takes a few pictures.
Your child will be asked to walk across the room several times while the physical therapist and technician take a video.
Back in the exam room, the physical therapist will place small reflective markers and sensors on your child’s body with tape. The markers are what the cameras see to track movements. The sensors record when your child’s muscles turn on and off.
The physical therapist will ask your child to walk back and forth across the room while the cameras record the walking information. Your child will need to walk about 15-20 feet several times. If they get tired, the physical therapist will give them rest breaks.
This will complete the gait analysis. The physical therapist will remove everything from your child’s arms and legs and they can change back into regular clothes.
Before you leave, the physical therapist might ask that your child get an X-ray if the doctor wants images of the bones in their feet or legs. The technician will walk you to the X-ray waiting room next door if this is needed. Your doctor will follow up with the motion analysis results at your next visit.
