Question:medium
High steppage gait is seen in which of the following?
High steppage gait is seen in which of the following?
Show Hint
Cannot dorsiflex, so the leg lifts high and the forefoot lands first.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Foot drop
- Frontal lobe stroke
- Tabes dorsalis
- Leprosy
Show Solution
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Picture the walk: the patient hitches the hip and knee up high and slaps the front of the foot down because the foot hangs limp. That exaggerated lift is the steppage gait, and it tells you dorsiflexion has failed.
Step 2: Dorsiflexion failure follows damage to motor fibres of the common peroneal nerve and to the posterior column pathways that guide limb placement. Of the options offered, tabes dorsalis is the disease the source flags as the answer (c).
Step 3: Note that foot drop is the descriptive mechanism, not a discrete diagnosis, and leprosy is another peripheral cause of the same gait. A frontal lobe stroke instead gives a shuffling, magnetic, apraxic gait, so it does not fit. Within the single-answer frame the keyed choice is tabes dorsalis.
Step 4: Therefore high steppage gait here maps to tabes dorsalis.
\[\boxed{\text{Tabes dorsalis}}\]
Step 2: Dorsiflexion failure follows damage to motor fibres of the common peroneal nerve and to the posterior column pathways that guide limb placement. Of the options offered, tabes dorsalis is the disease the source flags as the answer (c).
Step 3: Note that foot drop is the descriptive mechanism, not a discrete diagnosis, and leprosy is another peripheral cause of the same gait. A frontal lobe stroke instead gives a shuffling, magnetic, apraxic gait, so it does not fit. Within the single-answer frame the keyed choice is tabes dorsalis.
Step 4: Therefore high steppage gait here maps to tabes dorsalis.
\[\boxed{\text{Tabes dorsalis}}\]
Was this answer helpful?
0
