Gait of a deafferented subject without large myelinated sensory fibers below the neck. Lajoie, Y., Teasdale, N., Cole, J., Burnett, M., Bard, C., Fleury, M., Forget, R., Paillard, J., & Lamarre, Y. Neurology, 47(1):109–15, 1996.
Gait of a deafferented subject without large myelinated sensory fibers below the neck [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
We evaluated the gait pattern of a deafferented subject who suffered a permanent loss of large sensory myelinated fibers below the neck following an acute episode of purely sensory neuropathy 21 years ago. The subject has developed several strategies to achieve a secure gait, namely: (1) a reduction of the degrees of freedom by freezing the knee articulations during the stance phase, (2) a preservation of body balance by enlarging his base of support, and (3) visual monitoring of his step by stabilizing the head-trunk linkage together with a characteristic forward tilt. As a result, the gait of the deafferented subject lacks the fluidity of normal gait. Compared with normal subjects, the gait pattern of the deafferented subjects is characterized by a shorter cycle length, a longer cycle duration, a slower speed, and a lower cadence. Using a dual-task paradigm, the attentional demands for walking were particularly important (as indexed by longer probe reaction times) during the double-support phase, suggesting that the deafferented subject uses the double-support phase as a transitory stable phase to update cognitively the postural features necessary for generating his next step.
@article{lajoie_gait_1996,
	title = {Gait of a deafferented subject without large myelinated sensory fibers below the neck},
	volume = {47},
	url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=8710062},
	doi = {10/grrsr7},
	abstract = {We evaluated the gait pattern of a deafferented subject who suffered a permanent loss of large sensory myelinated fibers below the neck following an acute episode of purely sensory neuropathy 21 years ago. The subject has developed several strategies to achieve a secure gait, namely: (1) a reduction of the degrees of freedom by freezing the knee articulations during the stance phase, (2) a preservation of body balance by enlarging his base of support, and (3) visual monitoring of his step by stabilizing the head-trunk linkage together with a characteristic forward tilt. As a result, the gait of the deafferented subject lacks the fluidity of normal gait. Compared with normal subjects, the gait pattern of the deafferented subjects is characterized by a shorter cycle length, a longer cycle duration, a slower speed, and a lower cadence. Using a dual-task paradigm, the attentional demands for walking were particularly important (as indexed by longer probe reaction times) during the double-support phase, suggesting that the deafferented subject uses the double-support phase as a transitory stable phase to update cognitively the postural features necessary for generating his next step.},
	number = {1},
	journal = {Neurology},
	author = {Lajoie, Y. and Teasdale, N. and Cole, J.D. and Burnett, M. and Bard, C. and Fleury, M. and Forget, R. and Paillard, J. and Lamarre, Y.},
	year = {1996},
	keywords = {\#nosource, *Denervation, Electromyography, Gait/*physiology, Humans, Myelin Sheath/physiology, Neck/*innervation, Nerve Fibers/*physiology},
	pages = {109--15},
}

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