Gait of a deafferented subject without large myelinated sensory fibers below the neck
- 1 July 1996
- journal article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Neurology
- Vol. 47 (1), 109-115
- https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.47.1.109
Abstract
We evaluated the gait pattern of a deafferented subject who suffered a permanent loss of large sensory myelinated fibers below the neck following an acute episode of purely sensory neuropathy 21 years ago.The subject has developed several strategies to achieve a secure gait, namely: (1) a reduction of the degrees of freedom by freezing the knee articulations during the stance phase, (2) a preservation of body balance by enlarging his base of support, and (3) visual monitoring of his step by stabilizing the head-trunk linkage together with a characteristic forward tilt. As a result, the gait of the deafferented subject lacks the fluidity of normal gait. Compared with normal subjects, the gait pattern of the deafferented subject is characterized by a shorter cycle length, a longer cycle duration, a slower speed, and a lower cadence. Using a dual-task paradigm, the attentional demands for walking were particularly important (as indexed by longer probe reaction times) during the double-support phase, suggesting that the deafferented subject uses the double-support phase as a transitory stable phase to update cognitively the postural features necessary for generating his next step. NEUROLOGY 1996;47: 109-115This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
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