Spastic paraparetic gait

What it means

A type of spastic gait in which the legs are usually slightly bent at the hip and in an adducted position. The knees are extended or slightly bent and the feet are in a plantar flexion position. This posture requires circumduction of the legs during walking. The gait may appear stiff (spastic gait disorder) or stiff as well as insecure (spastic ataxic gait disorder). In spastic paraparetic gait, each leg appears to be dragged forward. If the muscle tone in the adductors is marked, the resulting gait disorder is referred to as scissor gait.

Rare diseases that can present with this1

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category