Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Steppage gait
High stepping
HP:0003376
What it means
An abnormal gait pattern that arises from weakness of the pretibial and peroneal muscles due to a lower motor neuron lesion. Affected patients have footdrop and are unable to dorsiflex and evert the foot. The leg is lifted high on walking so that the toes clear the ground, and there may be a slapping noise when the foot strikes the ground again.
Rare diseases that can present with this28
Common30–79%
14- Autosomal dominant Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2W
- Autosomal recessive axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease due to copper metabolism defect
- Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1F
- Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2B1
- Distal myopathy, Welander type
- Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy
- GNE myopathy
- Hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type 1
- HNRNPA1-related adult-onset distal myopathy
- KLHL9-related early-onset distal myopathy
- Spinocerebellar ataxia with axonal neuropathy type 1
- Tibial muscular dystrophy
- X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2
- X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 6
Sometimes5–29%
13- 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis-motor and sensory neuropathy syndrome
- Abetalipoproteinemia
- Adenylosuccinate synthetase-like 1-related distal myopathy
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Autosomal dominant Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2A2
- Autosomal dominant Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2E
- Autosomal dominant Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2Y
- Autosomal recessive axonal neuropathy with neuromyotonia
and 5 more in this range
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
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Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.