What Is an Abnormal Gait?

Anomalies of gait can be caused by motor or sensory disorders, and their characteristics are related to the lesion. It can be found in many diseases of the nervous system or other systems, and some typical abnormal gaits have implications for certain specific diseases. Diagnosis can be made by inspection. For some atypical gait, it is necessary to make a detailed inspection, and through analysis and synthesis, it is also helpful to the diagnosis. The clinical classification of gait abnormalities should be combined with the etiology, and the diagnosis based on the etiology should be mainly treated for the primary disease.

Basic Information

English name

gait disorders

Visiting department

Neurology

Common causes

Caused by motor or sensory disorders

Common symptoms

Hemiplegia gait, panic gait, drunk man gait, scissors gait, etc.

Causes of gait abnormalities and common diseases

1. Cortical spinal tract lesions can cause spastic hemiplegia gait and spastic paraplegia gait.

2. Bilateral frontal lobe lesions can lead to disuse gait.

3. Frontal (cortical or white matter) lesions can lead to small gait.

4. Extrapyramidal lesions can cause panic gait and twisted, odd asynchronous states.

5. Cerebellar lesions cause ataxia gait.

6. Alcohol or barbiturosis causes drunk gait.

7. Deep sensory disorders cause ataxia gait.

8. Weakness of tibialis anterior muscle and gastrocnemius muscle leads to cross-threshold gait.

9. Muscle weakness in the trunk and pelvic girdle causes myopathy gait.

10. Hysteria gait caused by psychogenic diseases.

Differential diagnosis of gait abnormalities

Hemiplegia gait

When walking, the upper limbs of the sick side flexed, the swing disappeared, the thighs and calves were straight, and the feet flew outwards in a circular arc shape, so it is also called circle gait, which is common in stroke sequelae.

2. Panic gait

The body leans forward, starts slowly, and moves back faster. It becomes harder to "rapidly brake" as it walks faster. It is panic-like, and it is common in Parkinson's disease.

3. Drunk Man Gait

Lifting your feet slowly, landing on the ground like lame feet, shaking your upper limbs back and forth, gait instability cannot walk straight like a drunk, common in cerebellar tumors, inflammation and labyrinth diseases.

4. Scissor Gait

Legs are stiff, feet crossed inward, knees close to scissors. Walking gait is small and slow, often walking on tiptoes, like ballet, is common in bilateral brain or spinal cord lesions, such as cerebral palsy or familial spastic paraplegia.

5. Duck gait

When walking, straight waist and belly, hips swinging like ducks, is a manifestation of progressive muscular dystrophy, can also be seen in rickets, congenital hip dislocation and so on.

6. Leaping Gait

When walking, the hip and knee joints are raised too high to prevent the toes from touching the ground. It is common in patients with common peroneal nerve palsy, sciatic nerve palsy, and polyneuritis.

7. Rooster Gait

When standing, the two thighs are close, the lower legs are slightly separated, and the feet stand on the toes like toes. When walking, they walk on tiptoes like ballet, which are more common in spinal cord diseases such as inflammation and paraplegia.

Gait abnormality check

Laboratory inspection

Selective laboratory tests when necessary include: blood routine, blood electrolytes, blood glucose, urea nitrogen.

2. Other auxiliary inspections

(1) Examination of skull base, CT and MRI.

(2) Cerebrospinal fluid examination.

(3) Chest X-ray, ECG, and ultrasound.

Gait Disorders Treatment Principles

Diagnosis based on the cause is mainly treated for the primary disease. Perform active and passive rehabilitation training. Splint shoes or leg support can be applied to maintain an accurate route for standing and walking. Encourage patients to stay active. For safety reasons, patients must be accompanied by others, especially if they are unfamiliar or have uneven ground.