label: Spastic hemiparetic gait
label_lc: spastic hemiparetic gait
description: "Spastic hemiparesis is characterized by a dominance of the tonus in the upper limb flexor muscles: the arm is held in an adducted posture and is bent and rotated inwards, the forearm is pronated and the hand and the fingers are flexed. The leg is slightly bent at the hip, the knee cannot be extended fully at the end of the stance phase and the foot is inverted and in a plantar flexed position. Gait is slow, with a wide base and asymmetrical with a shortened weight-bearing phase on the paretic side. During the swing phase, the paretic leg performs a lateral movement (circumduction) which is characteristic of this gait disorder, also termed Wernicke-Mann gait. Spastic gait problems typically worsen on attempts to walk faster."