Improving Walker-Assisted Uneven Terrain Ambulation for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Contemporary models of walkers often disadvantage users in uneven terrain contexts by adding additional difficulty and risks to their safety during ambulation. Therefore, this paper attempts to use pneumatic tires as a medium to improve the stability performance of walkers when used on uneven terrain to benefit users. In order to test this, a physical simulation was designed which would allow the walker to be tested using various pneumatic wheels on different uneven terrain types. This simulation was also customized to fit children ages 6-12 with cerebral palsy in the third level of the Gross Motor Function Classification Scale. This physical simulation indicated that both standard pneumatic and semi-pneumatic tires were more preferable to solid rubber tires when comparing their respective stability outcomes. Moreover, standard pneumatic tires also were observed to improve stability in every uneven terrain context where they were applied, suggesting that they are the most advantageous wheel variety for this type of ambulation. These findings present an inherent value to further incorporating pneumatic tires into contemporary walker models in order to avoid the same concerns which are currently seen for users during uneven terrain ambulation.