What is a tandem walk?

Doctors have several tests to help determine whether the patient has developed a lack of voluntary muscle control, called ataxia. One way to find out is a tandem walking, which includes a patient slowly walking in a straight line and touching the heel of one leg to the fingers of the other along the way. The variation of this walk, which is used in accordance with a number of other movement -related tests, is also a common part of the police field sobriety test.

Ataxia causes more than just affect the body's ability to walk in a common way. It can also prevent a person's ability to perform many voluntary movements, from eating and speaking to writing and bathing. This could have many causes, including the brain damage as a tumor or stroke, deteriorating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, and developmental disorders such as brain palsy, congenital conditions and alcoholism.

Several tests such as tandem walking are used to assess whether it has pathataxia where a radiological shift wouldThe friction could ensure the diagnosis confirmation. The "test of the station" is performed with the legs of the patient distributed distant from each other than usual, and then measures whether the patient remains stable with or without eyes closed. In addition to tandem walking, normal walking can be done to see if this task is also hindered.

Some patients will have ataxia on the lower body, others on the upper body and others everywhere. With tests like tandem walking, doctors can measure dexterity in the lower body. Others, as well as a test on the heel, with a sitting patient try to place the heel of the foot on the top of the knee of the other foot-more difficult task for someone suffering from ataxia. On the other hand, the finger test on the nose, another component of many field soberness tests, can help doctors assess whether ataxia is still isolated on the movements of the upper body.

Tandem walking test is one of the three main parts of many field sobering tests. WalkThe heel to the heel in performing basic tasks, such as counting back or just counting steps, officers can often determine whether the driver is disturbed. Other parts of the test include one leg stand for a period of time and analysis of the driver's eye in the horizontal test of Nystagmus. According to the US National Road Safety Administration, more than 90 percent of the time of drivers who have failed all three parts of the test are more than 90 percent of the time. Of course, to confirm suspicions, officers will ask the suspicious to perform an even less containing blood test or breath test.