title: Gait abnormalities in chronic fatigue syndrome.
abstract: To evaluate our clinical impression that patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) did not walk normally, we assessed gait kinematics at slow walking speeds (i.e., 0.45, 0.89 and 1.34 m/sec) and 30 m run time speeds on CFS patients and on a comparison group of sedentary controls. Run time was significantly slower for CFS than control subjects (p < 0.001). There was a significant interaction (p < 0.01) between group and speed for maximum hip angle during stance and swing phase with hip angle being significantly larger at 1.34 m/sec for CFS than controls subjects for both cases (p < 0.05). Knee flexion during stance and swing phases was significantly larger for controls than CFS subjects at 0.45 m/sec (p < 0.01). Ratio of stride length divided by leg length was significantly larger for the control subjects than for the CFS subjects with differences occurring at 0.45 and 0.89 m/sec (p < 0.01) but not 1.34 m/sec. The data indicate that CFS patients have gait abnormalities when compared to sedentary controls. These could be due to balance problems, muscle weakness, or central nervous system dysfunction; deciding which will require further research. Evaluation of gait may be a useful tool to measure outcome following therapeutic interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, East Orange, USA.
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Boda
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Natelson
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Sisto
authors.forename: W N
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Tapp
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D018953:Kinesiology, Applied; D008297:Male; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D012420:Running; D013997:Time Factors; D016138:Walking