Scissor gait

Scissor gaitis a form ofgait abnormalityprimarily associated withspastic cerebral palsy.That condition and others like it are associated with anupper motor neuronlesion.

Presentation

This gait pattern is reminiscent of amarionette.Hypertoniain the legs, hips and pelvis means these areas become flexed to various degrees, giving the appearance of crouching, while tight adductors produce extremeadduction,presented by knees and thighs hitting, or sometimes even crossing, in a scissors-like movement while the opposing muscles, the abductors, become comparatively weak from lack of use. Most common in patients withspastic cerebral palsy,the individual is often also forced to walk ontiptoeunless theplantarflexormuscles are released by an orthopedic surgical procedure.

These features are most typical with the scissors gait and usually result in some form and to some degree regardless of the mildness or severity of the spastic CP condition:

• rigidity and excessive adduction of the leg in swing
• plantar flexion of the ankle
• flexion at the knee
• adduction and internal rotation at the hip
• progressive contractures of all spastic muscles
• complicated assisting movements of the upper limbs when walking.

Conditions associated with a scissor gait

• Arthrogryposis
• Spastic diplegia
• Pernicious anemia
• Cerebrovascular accident
• Cervical spondylosiswithmyelopathy(a problem with the vertebrae in the neck)
• Liver failure
• Multiple sclerosis
• Spinal cord trauma
• Spinal cord tumor
• Syphilitic meningomyelitis
• Syringomyelia
• other forms ofCerebral palsy