Disturbance of gait due to rheumatoid disease

An alteration in the orientation of ankle and subtalar axes appears to cause 2 primary abnormalities in patients with rheumatoid disease involving the subtalar joint: a lack of plantar flexion at heel strike and a late heel rise. Movement at the thigh, the knee and the ankle is altered to compensate for these changes. It has been shown that the kinematics of gait of such rheumatoid patients does differ substantially from the normal pattern. A precise descriptive language of these changes has been employed in this study.