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The syndrome of senile gait

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Summary

Infrared computed stroboscopic photometry was used to quantify the kinematic profiles of walking in 10 elderly patients with symmetrical neurological disturbances of gait and in 19 age-matched neurologically healthy people. Clinical examination of the patients revealed similar profiles of walking even though their diagnoses were vascular dementia (2), normal pressure hydrocephalus (2), Alzheimer dementia with possible normal pressure hydrocephalus (2), mixed Alzheimer and vascular dementia (1), peripheral neuropathy (1), Alzheimer dementia with parkinsonian features (1), and un determined (1). Quantitatively, the patients' gait kinematics deviated greatly from control values, but these deviations were statistically attributable to reductions in stride. We suggest that many gait disturbances in elderly people are similar, regardless of etiology, because the characteristics of these gait disturbances are heavily veiled by nonspecific stride-dependent changes that comprise the syndrome of senile gait.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, P.O. Box 19230, 62794-9230, Springfield, IL, USA

    Rodger J. Elble, Larry Hughes & Constance Higgins

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  1. Rodger J. Elble
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  2. Larry Hughes
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  3. Constance Higgins
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Elble, R.J., Hughes, L. & Higgins, C. The syndrome of senile gait. J Neurol 239, 71–75 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00862975

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00862975

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