Characterization of gait parameters in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

The gait of five patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth(CMT) disease was analyzed using light-emitting diodes and a force plate. The flexion-extension motions of the hips, knees, and ankles, as well as their moments (vector sums of forces acting at the joints) in the flexion-extension and abduction-adduction planes, were quantified. The gait of the CMT patients showed abnormalities consistent with both distal weakness (ankle dorsi- and plantar-flexors) and weakness of the hip abductor muscles. The latter weakness appeared to produce asymmetric hip moments and truncal instability in the mediolateral plane during ambulation. However, the extent to which the gait was abnormal appeared not to be exclusively related to the severity of the sensorimotor conduction deficits in the peripheral nerves. In the four patients for whom nerve conduction velocity studies were available, decrease in the lower-extremity distal conduction velocities and evoked motor amplitude potentials did not correlate with the severity and extent of the gait abnormalities.