Gait and balance disturbances
Recognising gait patterns at the bedside, the emergencies (cord compression, cerebellar stroke, Wernicke), normal pressure hydrocephalus, and falls prevention in older people.
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Written with AI assistance and fact-checked against the sources below. For exam study, not clinical decisions. How notes are made
At a glance
- Walking needs power, sensation (proprioception, vision, vestibular input), cerebellar coordination and frontal planning. Watching the gait tells you which part has failed.
- In older people gait disorders are usually multifactorial: arthritis, neuropathy, small vessel disease, poor vision, medicines and fear of falling.
- Emergencies: spinal cord compression, cerebellar stroke or haemorrhage, Wernicke encephalopathy and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
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Sources
- Therapeutic Guidelines: NeurologyAU/NZTherapeutic Guidelines Limited (eTG complete), current eTG edition (version not verified)
- Preventing Falls and Harm from Falls in Older People, best practice guidelines for hospitals, residential aged care and community careAU/NZAustralian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2025
- World guidelines for falls prevention and management for older adults: a global initiative (Montero-Odasso M et al. Age Ageing 2022;51:afac205)World Falls Guidelines Task Force (Age and Ageing), 2022
- Guidelines for management of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (third edition) (Nakajima M et al. Neurol Med Chir 2021;61:63-97)Japanese Society of Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, 2021
- Diagnosing idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (Relkin N et al. Neurosurgery 2005;57:S4-16)International iNPH guidelines (Neurosurgery), 2005
- Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community (Sherrington C et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2019)Cochrane, 2019
- Last updated
- 14 November 2026
What changed
- 14 November 2026 Turnstile bot check on sign-in and signed-out feedback