Balance Disorders and Abnormal Gait: Types, Diagnosis, and Recovery
A balance disorder is a disturbance that makes a person feel unstable, for example, when standing or walking. A feeling of vertigo or dizziness may accompany it, or you may feel a sensation of movement, spinning or floating. Learn more about its causes and treatment options
What is Abnormal Gait?
An abnormal gait or a walking abnormality is when a person cannot walk in the usual way. This can be because of injuries, underlying conditions, with the legs and feet.
Walking may seem like a simple activity. When one or more of these interacting systems are not working properly, it can result in an abnormal gait or gait abnormality.
An unsteady gait can encompass several different signs. Examples include:
- Dizziness or vertigo when walking
- Shuffling when walking
- Instability or lack of balance
- Unstable
People with chronic unsteady gait often have a wide stance when walking. They can walk slowly and show caution when walking, and they can even stumble.
Types of Abnormal Gaits:
Abnormal gait is classified as one of five types based on a person's symptoms or appearance of gait are:
- Spastic gait
- Scissors gait
- Steppage gait
- Waddling gait
- Propulsive gait
Besides these five types, a person with a limp is also considered to have an abnormal gait. Like other abnormalities, lameness can be temporary or permanent. A limp can also disappear without medical intervention.
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Get A Second OpinionCauses
Sometimes, a person may have difficulty walking because of an acute problem, such as a bruise, cut, or fracture. These may also cause them to limp or walk differently, but they aren't considered causes of abnormal gait.
However, several diseases can attack the nervous system and legs, causing abnormal gait. Some more common causes of abnormal gait include:
- Injury
- Trauma
- Inflammation
- Pain
Long-term difficulties are often the result of neurological muscle problems.
Problems with gait, balance, and coordination are frequently due to particular conditions, including:
- Joint pain or conditions, such as arthritis
- Multiple-sclerosis (MS)
- Meniere's disease
- Brain hemorrhage
- Brain tumor
- Parkinson's disease
- Chiari malformation (CM)
- Compression or infarction of the spinal cord
- Guillain-Barré syndrome
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Myopathy
- Cerebral palsy (CP)
- Drop
- Muscular dystrophy
- Obesity
- Chronic alcohol abuse
- Vitamin B12 deficiency
- Stroke
- Vertigo
- Migraine
- Deformities
- Certain medications, including antihypertensives
Other reasons encompass a restricted range of movement and fatigue. Muscle weakness can arise in a single or one leg, making the walk difficult.
Numbness in the feet and legs can make it difficult to tell where the feet are moving or if they are touching the floor.
Diagnosis
- Your doctor will begin by taking a thorough medical history, including details about your current medications.
- It's crucial to disclose any history of falls, near falls, as well as alcohol or recreational drug use.
- Tests such as a nerve conduction study and electromyogram can assess muscle problems and peripheral neuropathy.
- Blood tests may also be ordered to identify potential causes of balance issues.
- Next, your doctor will evaluate your gait to observe how you walk.
- You may be asked to walk from head to toe, and other factors such as posture, stride length, and the need for assistance while walking will be considered.
- Your doctor can rate your gait using the Functional Ambulation Rating Scale, which ranges from zero to five. A score of five indicates independent walking without assistance from others.
Performance tests can be used to assess individual gait difficulties. Other possible tests to identify causes include:
- Hearing tests
- Inner ear tests
- Vision tests, including observation of eye movement
Then, a doctor will consider whether you have related symptoms that may require additional testing. These may include:
- Blood pressure checks in lying, sitting, and standing positions
- Blood tests to detect hemoglobin levels, thyroid function, electrolytes, blood glucose, and vitamin B-12 tests
- Cognitive function tests
- Depression detection
- Eye exams
Diagnosis and testing methods may vary because the cause can be an unsteady gait. An MRI or CT scan can test your brain and spinal cord. Your doctor will look for which part of the nervous system is contributing to your gait and balance problems.
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Book an AppointmentTreatments
Treatments may include medications and physical therapy. A doctor may prescribe medication to reduce unsteady gait if you have the following conditions:
- Athritis
- Depression
- Hypothyroidism
- Orthostatic Hypertension
- Parkinson's Disease
- Rhythm Disorders
- Vitamin B-12 deficiency
Some conditions may require surgery to correct the cause of unsteady gait. These include conditions of the spine, such as lumbar spinal stenosis and cervical stenosis.
Other treatments may include hearing aids for hearing problems, canes or walkers to aid walking, and vision correction with glasses or a new prescription for glasses.
If an underlying condition is causing an abnormal gait, the person's walking should correct itself when the condition is treated.
This is usually true for broken bones, as they can be treated with a cast.Other injuries may require surgery or physical therapy to help the gait return to normal.
For long-term cases of abnormal gait, a person is likely to use assistive devices for treatment. These may include:
- Leg braces
- Crutches
- Walking sticks
- Walker
While treatment is not fully able to treat an abnormal gait, it may at the least reduce the severity of signs in a maximum number of cases.
Some people may also benefit from physical therapy services to help them learn to walk with foot problems, such as foot numbness.
You may need rehabilitation to learn how to move your muscles, compensate for poor balance, and learn how to prevent falls. For balance problems caused by vertigo, you can learn to position your head to regain balance.
When to visit a Doctor?
Make an appointment with your doctor if you've recently fallen or if your unsteady gait makes you feel like you might fall. Take steps to stay safe and reduce the risk of future injury along with any of the following signs:
- An injury fall or head fall
- Cannot speak clearly
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness
- Fallen on one side of the face
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
- Occurs after a head injury
- Severe, stabbing headache
- Sudden confusion
- Sudden numbness in one or more parts of the body
- Sudden change in gait pattern
Home Remedies:
Since foot drop can increase the risk of tripping and falling, consider taking these precautions at home:
- Keep all floors clear
- Avoid using rugs
- Keep electrical cords out of hallways
- Make sure rooms and stairs are well-lit
- Place the fluorescent tape on the upper and lower steps of the stairs
