Boda, W L, Natelson, B H, Sisto, S A et al. · Journal of the neurological sciences · 1995 · DOI
Researchers filmed how people with ME/CFS walked at different speeds and compared them to sedentary (non-exercising) healthy people. They found that people with ME/CFS walked differently—they moved their hips differently, bent their knees less, and took shorter steps relative to their leg length. People with ME/CFS also ran much more slowly than the comparison group.
This study provides objective, measurable evidence that ME/CFS affects physical movement patterns, validating patient reports of movement difficulties and offering gait analysis as a potential outcome measure for clinical trials. Identifying specific gait abnormalities could help clinicians recognize ME/CFS and track disease progression or treatment response.
This study does not prove what causes the gait abnormalities—it cannot distinguish between muscle weakness, balance problems, neurological dysfunction, or deconditioning. The comparison group was sedentary controls rather than healthy active individuals, so differences may partially reflect the controls' reduced fitness rather than unique CFS pathology. Cross-sectional design prevents conclusions about whether gait changes worsen over time or recover with treatment.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.