Premium
Gait abnormality in essential tremor
Author(s) -
Singer Carlos,
SanchezRamos Juan,
Weiner William J.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
movement disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.352
H-Index - 198
eISSN - 1531-8257
pISSN - 0885-3185
DOI - 10.1002/mds.870090212
Subject(s) - abnormality , gait , physical medicine and rehabilitation , medicine , ataxic gait , gait disturbance , gait ataxia , rating scale , gait analysis , neurological disorder , central nervous system disease , physical therapy , psychology , ataxia , psychiatry , developmental psychology
Essential tremor (ET) has been described as a monosymptomatic disorder. In reports describing large series of patients with ET, there are rare patients who exhibit a noticeable gait disorder. However, we have observed that patients with ET and normal gait often exhibit an abnormality of tandem gait. To investigate this observation, we examined whether a gait disorder was present in 36 consecutive patients (mean age 69) with ET. We employed a tremor rating scale that scored tremor amplitude, location, and disability. In all patients, gait and tandem gait were separately evaluated. Eighteen of 36 patients (50%) exhibited tandem gait abnormalities in the presence of a normal narrow‐based gait compared to 11 of 40 age‐matched controls (28%) ( p < 0.05). Abnormality of tandem gait was more frequently present in older ET patients and those with 5 years of disease duration. No relationship was found between presence of tandem gait abnormality and gender, tremor severity, head involvement, or positive family history. The finding of a tandem gait abnormality in 50% of ET patients suggests that cerebellar dysfunction may be important in its pathophysiology.