| Festinating | Posture is stooped forward. Gait initiation is slow and steps are small and shuffling | Parkinson's disease |
| Ataxic | Gait is wide-based with truncal instability and irregular lurching steps which results in lateral veering and if severe, falling | Cerebellar disease, e.g. Wernicke's |
| Antalgic | Stance phase of gait is abnormally shortened relative to the swing phase, usually done to minimise pain | Lower limb trauma |
| Spastic (scissor or diplegic) | Rigidity and excessive adduction of the leg in swing , plantar flexion of the ankle, flexion at the knee, adduction and internal rotation at the hip, and contractures of all spastic muscles | Cerebral palsy |
| Steppage (neuropathic or equine) | High-stepping gait so as to prevent scraping of the toe on the ground | Foot drop |
| Myopathic (waddling) | A broad-based gait with a duck-like waddle to the swing phase, the pelvis drops to the side of the leg being raised with forward curvature of the lumbar spine, and a marked body swing | Proximal myopathy |
| Pigeon | Toe(s) point(s) inwards when walking | Structural abnormalities |
| Trendelenburg | During the stance phase, the weakened abductor muscles allow the pelvis to tilt down on the opposite side. To compensate, the trunk lurches to the weakened side to attempt to maintain a level pelvis throughout the gait cycle | Poliomyelitis or muscular dystrophy |
| Stomping | Bilateral high steppage due to lack of proprioception | Friedreich's ataxia |
| Magnetic | Feet seem as if magnetically attracted to the floor | Normal pressure hydrocephalus |
| Choreiform (hyperkinetic) | Irregular, jerky, involuntary movements in all extremities. Walking may accentuate their baseline movement disorder | Sydenham chorea, Huntington's |
| Sensory | In an effort to know when the feet land and its location, the patient will slam the foot hard onto the ground in order to sense it | proprioceptive loss e.g. diabetes, B12 deficiency |
| Hemiplegic | Unilateral weakness on the affected side, arm flexed, adducted and internally rotated. Leg on same side is in extension with plantar flexion of the foot and toes. When walking, the patient will hold his or her arm to one side and drags his or her affected leg in a semicircle (circumduction) due to weakness of leg flexors and extended foot | Stroke |
