Health & Nutrition Health and Nutrition - February 2018.edcoan.ir | Page 33

a visual impairment, and the
side effects of medication.
To determine what’s
causing your gait change,
your doctor will perform a
comprehensive history and
a physical exam and review
your mediations. Reasons for
abnormal gait change include:
u Parkinson’s disease.
Quick, short steps or
shuffling, with the knees,
hips, and spine bent,
could suggest Parkinson’s
disease or parkinsonism.
Parkinsonism is a condition
with symptoms similar to
Parkinson’s disease that
also affects gait.
u Arthritis. Knee or hip
arthritis can force you to
change your gait, often in
an effort to relieve pain as
you walk. You may appear
stiff; take short, slow steps;
or seem unable to beat
your body’s weight.
u Back and neck problems.
Lumbar spinal stenosis,
which is a narrowing of
the canal through which
the spinal cord travels
in the vertebrae of the
lower back, can affect gait.
Spinal cord compression
in the neck region (cervical
spondylotic myelopathy)
can interfere with gait
and cause loss of balance
and co-ordination and
also result in ‘foot drop’,
a weakness in the ankle
muscles that causes the
toe to drag while walking.
Foot drop is sometimes
accompanied by a high
change in
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PUTTING GAIT TO THE TEST
Your doctor can sometimes get a good idea of what’s causing your gait
problem by watching the way you move. He or she may ask you to perform
various movements and perhaps time you while you do them. In the Timed
Get Up and Go test, you get up from a chair without using your hands, walk
3 meters (about 10 feet), turn, and return to sit back down. You should be
able to complete the action in about 10 seconds. If you take 14 seconds or
more, it’s considered abnormal, and you have an increased risk of falling.
lifting of the leg to avoid
catching the toe on the
ground.
u Other orthopaedic
problems. Lower-extremity
surgery or trauma, such
as a fracture, can cause a
deviation from normal gait.
u A vitamin B 12 deficiency.
A stagger or an unsteady
EXERCISING FOR BETTER POSTURE, STRENGTH AND A LONGER LIFE
Here’s a start-up strength programme for older adults: A five-minute warm up of walking or stationary bike riding,
rowing, or using a stair-stepping machine:
u Two sets of 10 wall push-ups:
Stand a little more than arm’s length
away from a wall, lean forward
slightly and place your palms flat
on the wall about shoulder-
width apart. Slowly bend
your elbows so that your
chest approaches the wall.
Pause and then slowly
return to the starting
position without
locking your elbows.
u Two sets of 10
squats: Stand in
front of an armless
chair, to prevent
you from falling
backward, with your
arms parallel to the
ground. Slowly
lower yourself
to a near-sitting
position, pause, and
then slowly stand.
u Two sets of 10 toe
raises: Keep a hand on
a counter or chair for
balance and then rise up
on the balls of your
feet for a count
of 20 and then
slowly lower your
heels
to the
ground.
HEALTH & NUTRITION February 2018 33