Department

Neurology

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Disorders of gait and balance are common in medicine and often lead to referral for neurologic evaluation. Because the maintenance of balance and normal gait are mediated by complex neurologic pathways as well as musculoskeletal, metabolic, and behavioral considerations, the list of possible contributing causes is very large. Much of the time, the history and neurologic examination reveal the underlying cause or causes. There are instances, however, when there are limited neurologic findings, as well as no structural abnormalities on brain or spine magnetic resonance imaging studies to explain the imbalance or gait difficulty. In this article, selected disorders that may be overlooked in the neurologic examination and imaging studies are reviewed. Possible causes of imbalance include occult drug-induced ataxia, autoimmune ataxia, ataxia associated with tremor, bilateral vestibular hypofunction, and spastic or dystonic gait disorders with normal imaging.

Medical Subject Headings

neurology

Publication Date

2013

Publication Title

Seminars in Neurology

ISSN

0271-8235

Volume

33

Issue

3

First Page

270

Last Page

275

PubMed ID

24057830

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1055/s-0033-1354601

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