Feeling like you can't walk properly, known as an abnormal gait, stems from issues in your nerves, muscles, bones, joints, brain, or inner ear, ranging from common problems like arthritis, injuries (sprains, fractures), foot issues (sores, calluses), and poor circulation to neurological conditions (Parkinson's, MS) or even inner ear/balance problems. Since it can signal various underlying causes, from temporary pain to chronic conditions, seeing a doctor for diagnosis is crucial.
Feeling unstable or having balance issues while walking can stem from inner ear problems, medication side effects, or neurological conditions. It's important to monitor symptoms like dizziness, falls, or weakness. Simple measures include walking slowly, using support if needed, and avoiding sudden head movements.
Common types of movement disorders and their symptoms include:
Problems with the joints, (such as arthritis), bones (such as deformities), circulation (such as peripheral vascular disease), or even pain can make it difficult to walk properly. Diseases or injuries to the nerves, muscles, brain, spinal cord, or inner ear can affect normal walking.
Other MS symptoms can have a large impact on walking too. If your vision is blurred or double, or you have altered depth perception, you might find it difficult to place your feet accurately or judge steps and kerbs. Problems with balance, dizziness and tremor can affect walking and so can pain.
Three key warning signs of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) include vision problems (like blurred vision or optic neuritis), sensory changes (numbness, tingling, or "pins and needles"), and significant, unexplained fatigue, alongside issues with balance, walking, muscle weakness, and cognitive/memory troubles, though symptoms vary widely.
The 6 Minute Walk Test is a sub-maximal exercise test used to assess aerobic capacity and endurance. The distance covered over a time of 6 minutes is used as the outcome by which to compare changes in performance capacity.
Weakness in the legs can happen for a variety of reasons. These can include DOMS, spinal problems, neuropathy, ALS, stroke, myasthenia gravis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Weakness in the legs may affect one leg or both. Sometimes, leg weakness can signal an underlying medical condition that requires treatment.
The walk-and-turn test is a standardized test in which an officer asks the person to walk in a straight line (heel to toe), pivot, and then do this in the other direction. The officer will conduct this test in order to find out if they have probable cause to arrest you on account of drunk driving.
The most common symptoms include:
Underlying health conditions that can cause gait abnormalities include, but aren't limited to, the following:
Early signs of ALS often involve painless muscle weakness, such as tripping or dropping things, along with muscle twitching (fasciculations), cramping, and stiffness (spasticity), commonly starting in limbs but sometimes affecting speech (slurring) or swallowing (choking). Other early indicators include significant fatigue, poor balance, or even uncontrollable laughing/crying (pseudobulbar affect). These symptoms usually begin subtly in one area and spread, affecting daily activities before becoming severe.
Problems with balance and feeling dizzy are common in MS, and can have knock-on effects on your walking. Like all MS symptoms, these issues affect people differently, and vary from day to day. You might be wobbly on your feet from time to time. Sometimes people say they feel like they're on a boat.
And some folks feel off-balance, like walking on a trampoline. All of that can be called dizziness. Anxiety can cause all three types. You might feel floaty, shaky, or like your legs forgot how to do their job.
Muscle weakness and unstable joints can contribute to your loss of balance. Difficulties with eyesight also can lead to unsteadiness. Medications. Loss of balance or unsteadiness can be a side effect of medications.
If you are experiencing difficulty walking, it can likely be described by different gait patterns, including: Spastic gait: Dragging of feet while walking and apparent stiffness in walk. Propulsive gait: A slouched and rigid posture with head and neck thrust forward.
The 333 walking method, also known as Japanese Interval Walking Training (IWT), is a simple yet effective workout alternating 3 minutes of slow walking with 3 minutes of brisk (fast) walking, repeated several times (often 5 times for 30 mins), to boost cardiovascular fitness, strength, and metabolism without high impact, improving heart health, muscle tone, and glucose control. It's a low-impact, time-efficient routine developed by Japanese researchers for improving fitness and preventing lifestyle diseases, ideal for all ages.
Explanation. Difficulty walking straight may indicate a problem in the brain's control centers. This includes issues with the basal ganglia, which control movement patterns, and the cerebellum, which coordinates balance and precise movements.
= The expression to walk a fine line is often used to mean "to achieve or maintain a balance" or "to be very close to two different ideas or attitudes at the same time": He walked the fine line between confidence and cockiness. Her family walks a fine line between modernity and fundamentalism.
Several conditions can cause a sudden inability to walk. The most serious are those affecting the brain or spinal cord, such as strokes or head injuries and spinal cord injuries that cause paralysis. These conditions require immediate medical evaluation, as early diagnosis leads to the best treatment outcomes.
Neuromuscular diseases
They include muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), myasthenia gravis and fibromyalgia. These diseases cause several symptoms, including losing strength in the legs, muscle twitching and muscle stiffness.
Feeling weird, weak, and experiencing tingling sensations can be caused by several conditions including diabetic nerve problems, multiple sclerosis, thyroid issues, or even anxiety. It's important to see a healthcare provider for evaluation and proper testing.
The 6-6-6 walking rule is a viral fitness trend: walk for 60 minutes (briskly) with a 6-minute warm-up and a 6-minute cool-down, ideally at 6 a.m. or 6 p.m., for 6 days a week, making it a simple, low-impact routine for improved heart health, energy, and mood, according to health.com, Healthline https://www.healthline.com/health-news/666-walking-trend-weight-loss?ref=healthshots.com, Vogue, Healthshots, and Medium. It's praised for being accessible, requiring no special equipment, and fitting easily into busy schedules, reframing walking as a consistent ritual.
Free Walking
This part of the exam consists in observing the patient's gait. To increase the chances of picking up any abnormalities that may be present, the patient should walk back and forth several times, ideally, in a hallway at least 10 feet long. These are typical abnormalities of gait in Parkinson's disease.
Research points to the health indicators of various walking speeds in adults 65 and older: Speeds ≤ 1.3 miles per hour suggest poor health and functional status. A speed of 1.8 mph is the median walking pace for this population. Speeds ≥ 2.2 mph suggest healthier aging.