Signs, Symptoms & Clinical Features
Gait disturbance
Gait disturbance is difficulty walking, a key feature of normal pressure hydrocephalus and a sign that can occur in other forms.
In short: Gait disturbance
- It is difficulty with walking and balance.
- It is a key, often early feature of normal pressure hydrocephalus.
- In NPH, it is frequently the most shunt-responsive symptom.
- It is assessed as part of evaluating hydrocephalus in adults.
What it is
Gait disturbance is difficulty with walking and balance — for example, a slow, unsteady, broad-based, or "magnetic" gait (feeling as if the feet are stuck to the floor). It is a central feature of normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH).
Understanding Gait disturbance
In NPH, gait disturbance is often the earliest and most prominent of the classic triad (gait, cognition, and bladder symptoms), and it is frequently the symptom most likely to improve with treatment (a shunt). The gait in NPH is typically slow and unsteady, with short, shuffling steps and difficulty turning. Because gait disturbance can also result from many other conditions of aging, careful evaluation — including imaging and tests such as a lumbar tap test (assessing whether gait improves after removing CSF) — helps determine whether NPH is the cause and whether a shunt is likely to help. Gait is closely assessed before and after such tests.
Why it matters
Understanding gait disturbance helps older adults and families recognize a key, potentially treatable feature of NPH, and see why gait is carefully assessed — including its response to a tap test — to guide treatment decisions.
Common questions
What does the gait look like in NPH?
Often slow, unsteady, and broad-based, with short shuffling steps.
Is it treatable?
In NPH, gait is frequently the most shunt-responsive symptom.
How is it evaluated?
With assessment before and after tests such as a lumbar tap test.
Bottom line
Gait disturbance is difficulty walking that is a key, often treatable feature of normal pressure hydrocephalus, central to its evaluation.
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