Motion Analysis Clinic

Precision Motion Assessments for Mobility Challenges and Sports Injuries

Seattle Children’s Motion Analysis Clinic assesses your child’s movement using advanced technology, resulting in evidence-based treatment plans personalized to your child. Our goal is to help your child do more of the things they want to with less effort and pain. We help patients with neuromuscular conditions like cerebral palsy, genetic disorders like Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, structural differences in legs or feet and those who use prosthetics. We also advise young athletes returning to sports after an injury.  

If your child’s condition or injury affects typical development or mobility, a motion analysis can provide detailed information about their problem and inform treatment decisions, similar to how MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) aids surgical planning. More than half the time, findings from motion analysis change the treatment plan.

Why choose Seattle Children’s for motion analysis?

• A motion analysis study gives your child’s treatment team data that informs the care plan and can affect the physical therapy, orthotics or surgeries your child may need. Not every child we assess needs treatment. For some, our analysis shows an unusual gait is not a concern.
• The Motion Analysis Clinic is part of Seattle Children’s state-of-the-art Kirkland Orthopedics Clinic, designed specifically for musculoskeletal care for growing bodies. Pediatric experts in Rehabilitation Services, Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Orthotics and Prosthetics provide comprehensive care to help all kids do the things they enjoy.
• Our clinic is part of Seattle Children’s Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, which is consistently ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report. Specially trained in young people’s physical, emotional and social needs, we customize treatment to your child’s age and development. Our doctors and scientists lead research to improve care so every child can live their life to the fullest.

Services We Offer

Our Motion Analysis team captures and analyzes data about your child’s range of motion, limb alignment, strength and muscle control and activity. A clear understanding of how your child’s body works helps us identify how they can be more efficient, have less pain and do the things they want more easily. Our analysis guides their care, which may include surgery, bracing, orthotics, physical and occupational therapy and medical management. As needed, we refer your child to a wide range of specialists such as neurologists, dietitians and endocrinologists.

Clinic visits take up to 2 hours. To be assessed, children must be able to walk up and down a 30-foot walkway, either on their own or using their orthotics or assistive devices.

Comprehensive exam

Your visit starts with a holistic exam by our physical therapist. We talk to your child and family about how they’re doing in their daily life — now and in the past. We ask about your family’s goals. Standard tests measure their ability in certain tasks. This provides a baseline and shows a history of how your child is progressing over time.

State-of-the-art facility

• Our Motion Analysis lab is a large space with 18 cameras. We place 20 to 40 reflective markers on your child’s body and capture how they walk with cameras circling the room. Because we place the markers on bare skin, patients are asked to wear elastic-waist shorts and a T shirt or sports bra.
• If needed, we use EMG (electromyography) sensors to tell us how your child’s muscles are firing.
• The lab floor contains 6 force plates that measure the forces your child’s body uses to move (called kinetics).
• A special walkway measures pressure under your child’s foot and how the force is distributed over the bottom of the foot as they walk.
• From the detailed data, we create a 3D animation of your child in motion.
• Combining high-definition video and force plate technology gives us information about both your child’s motion and the forces involved.
• In addition to a traditional gait analysis lab, our clinic has a markerless video system, which lets us measure motion without the patient having to wear reflective markers. This system works well for very young children and for analyzing athletes in action.

Team approach to personalize your child’s treatment

• After processing all the data, we review our findings with your child’s extended care team to help create the best treatment plan. The collaboration brings together the physical therapists and engineers from the Motion Analysis Clinic alongside orthopedic surgeons, rehabilitation medicine physicians (physiatrists), neuromuscular specialists and orthotists. Depending on your child, their treatment recommendations may involve physical therapy, custom braces or orthotics, rehabilitation medicine therapies (such as specialized muscle tone or spasticity management) or orthopedic surgery.
• We reevaluate your child after surgery or other therapy to measure outcomes and revise the treatment plan as needed.