Your body coordinates so many elements to take a single step. If one of those elements is not functioning properly, it can effect your gait cycle as well as your body as a whole. Read on to find out how.
As you learned through our series of posts on gait, an incredible lineup of elements are put into play with every single step. The disruption of any one of those elements can lead to the dysfunction of your gait cycle. Dysfunction of your gait cycle, in turn, can lead to pain and problems throughout other areas of your body.
While there are far too many gait disorders to cover in a single post, we can offer a broad overview of the main causes behind gait dysfunction and its effect on the rest of your body.
Gait Cycle Elements
Components that interact during your gait cycle include your foot, ankle and other bones and joints, your muscles, and your body’s network of fascia. And don’t forget your nervous system, which sends signals to initiate and continue an energy-efficient gait cycle.
Gait Cycle Dysfunction
While gait dysfunction can stem from any number of causes, three of the most common are pain, central nervous system disorders and deficits of the musculoskeletal system.
Pain: The automatic response to pain in the joints or muscles of the lower limb is typically to avoid putting too much weight on the painful area, resulting in what is known an antalgic gait pattern. This can lead to a shorter step length as well as a shorter duration of stance time on the effected limb. You can also end up leaning toward or away from the painful extremity as you walk, depending on the source of the pain.
Central Nervous System Disorders: Cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease, other neurological disorders and trauma can lead to gait dysfunction. Because nervous disorders often result in muscles that are continuously stiff or tight, the end result to your gait pattern is an overall increase in stiffness and abnormal muscle activity.
Examples vary among the nervous disorders. Dysfunctional gait patterns may involve leg stiffness and a tendency to scuff the toes; a wide leg stance with uncoordinated, unsteady steps; or the lack of arm swing, a flexed trunk and short, increasingly rapid steps.
Musculoskeletal System Deficits: Reduced muscle strength, paralysis, amputation, abnormal range of motion and other musculoskeletal issues can result in a wide range of gait deviations. Reduced muscle strength can be caused by atrophy from disuse, or as the end result an injury to the surrounding nerves.
Abnormal joint range of motion can stem from injury or other issues with the muscles and connective tissues; congenital conditions that involve lax tissues; abnormal joint structure or instability. Joint replacements often fall into this category, with any abnormal joint range of motion typically resulting in the need for compensation in one or more of the nearby joints.
Those suffering from any type of weakness in the musculoskeletal system usually end up modifying their gait pattern in one or more ways in an attempt to make up for the weakness.
Body as a Whole
Your body’s movements and functioning are all interconnected to some degree, and a single example can give you a solid idea of the gait pattern’s broad impact on the rest of your body. Let’s take the example of weak quadriceps, which typically leads to a person leaning forward during the gait cycle as he or she walks. The constant forward leaning of the trunk, in turn, can put undue stress on back muscles not meant to handle it and otherwise disrupt functions associated with proper posture and an upright trunk.
Correcting gait dysfunction starts by uncovering the cause behind it. Once that discovery is made, appropriate actions can be taken to restore your gait cycle and ensure your body functions in the efficient manner in which it was designed.
REFERENCES:
- Michaud TC. Human Locomotion: The Conservative Management of Gait-Related Disorders. Newton, MA: Newton Biomechanics; 2001.
- Newmann D. Kinesiology of the Musculoskeletal System. 2nd ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier; 2009.