Methods: Thirty nine patients who underwent cervical decompression and fusion for cervical myelopathy were studied. Preoperatively, gait disturbance was present in all patients. The patients were evaluated with Nurick classification, Functional Independence measure (FIM) score and gait analysis using three dimensional motion analyzer before surgery, 1 week and 3 months after surgery.

Results: In the Nurick classification there was statistically significant change but no significant change in FIM score after surgery. In the gait analysis there were statistically significant improvements in all the linear parameters, kinetic (ankle plantarflexion moment) and kinematic (knee range of motion in swing phase) parameters (p＜0.05).

Conclusion: This study suggests that gait analysis can be used as a quantitative tools of postoperative gait improvement in patient with cervical myelopathy. (J Korean Acad Rehab Med 2003; 27: 58-62)

We present two patients with a cerebral palsy who developed cervical myelopathy long from term involuntary movements. Frequently instability with a premature onset of spondylosis of the cervical spine is found in an athetoid cerebral palsy patient. These structural abnormalities appear to be related to the athetoid motion of neck in a cerebral palsy. The combination of a disk degeneration and listhetic instability with a narrow canal predisposes these patients for the relatively rapid progression to a devastating neurological defect. Early surgical management is a treatment of choice for the cervical myelopathy associated with an athetoid cerebral palsy.