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Gait abnormality

Definition

Walking abnormalities are unusual and uncontrollable walk patterns, usually caused by diseases or injuries to the legs, feet, brain, spine, or inner ear.

Alternative Names

Gait abnormalities

Considerations

The pattern of how a person walks is called their gait. Many different types of walking abnormalities are produced unconsciously. Most, but not all, are due to some physical condition.

Some walking abnormalities are so characteristic that they have been given descriptive names:

• Propulsive gait -- a stooped, rigid posture, with the head and neck bent forward
• Scissors gait -- legs flexed slightly at the hips and knees, giving the appearance of crouching, with the knees and thighs hitting or crossing in a scissors-like movement
• Spastic gait -- a stiff, foot-dragging walk caused by one-sided, long-term, muscle contraction
• Steppage gait -- foot drop where the foot hangs with the toes pointing down, causing the toes to scrape the ground while walking
• Waddling gait -- a distinctive duck-like walk that may appear in childhood or later in life

Common Causes

Abnormal gait may be caused by diseases in many different areas of the body. General causes of abnormal gait may include:

• Arthritis of the leg or foot joints
• Chondromalacia patellae
• Conversion disorder (a psychological disorder)
• Foot problems (such as a callus, corn, ingrown toenail, wart, pain, skin ulcer, swelling, spasms)
• Fracture
• Hemophilia
• Injections into muscles that causes soreness in the leg or buttocks
• Infection
• Injury
• Legs that are different lengths
• Myositis
• Shin splints
• Tendonitis
• Tight or uncomfortable shoes
• Torsion of the testis

This list is not all-inclusive.

• Propulsive gait:
  • Carbon monoxide poisoning
  • Manganese poisoning
  • Parkinson's disease
  • Use of certain drugs including phenothiazines, haloperidol, thiothixene, loxapine, metoclopramide, and metyrosine (usually drug effects are temporary)
• Spastic and scissors gait:
  • Cerebrovascular accident (stroke)
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Cervical spondylosis with myelopathy (a problem with the vertebrae in the neck)
  • Liver failure
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Pernicious anemia
  • Spinal cord trauma
  • Spinal cord tumor
  • Syphilitic meningomyelitis
  • Syringomyelia
  • Cerebral palsy
• Spastic gait:
  • Brain abscess
  • Brain tumor
  • Cerebrovascular accident (stroke)
  • Head trauma
  • Multiple sclerosis
• Steppage gait:
  • Guillain-Barre syndrome
  • Herniated lumbar disk
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Peroneal muscle atrophy
  • Peroneal nerve trauma
  • Poliomyelitis
  • Polyneuropathy
  • Spinal cord trauma
• Waddling gait:
  • Congenital hip dysplasia
  • Muscular dystrophy
  • Spinal muscle atrophy
• Ataxic or broad-based gait
  • Alcohol intoxication
  • Long term brain injury due to alcoholism
  • Neuropathy (as with diabetes)
  • Stroke
  • Use of certain medicines such as Dilantin and other seizure medications

Reviewer Info: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Daniel B. Hoch, PhD, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc. , 03/26/2009