10 Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease
Symptom #5: Festinating Gait
Parkinsonian gait or festinating gait describes a gait that is often seen among patients with Parkinson’s disease. The word festinating comes from the Latin word “festinare” which means to hurry. This gait is characterized by the patient’s small shuffling steps along with hypokinesia (slowness of movement) and akinesia (loss of movement). Patients affected are often seen to have a reduced walking speed and stride length.
While there is difficulty for the patient to start walking, they also have difficulty stopping after they start. This is caused by muscle hypertonicity. Another characteristic is the forward flexed posture with no swinging of the arms during walking. There are also stops of movement when the patient has to turn to change their course of direction.
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