Symptoms and gait of hypertonia in children

When it comes to the medical condition of "hypertonia in children", many people don't know much about it, and there are generally few such cases around us. But when it comes to its manifestations and walking gait, I believe everyone is familiar with it. Below we will share with you what "hypertonia in children" is, what are its symptoms, and what its gait performance is like. You can pay attention to this information.

Children's muscle tone is the basis for maintaining various body postures and normal movements, and manifests itself in various forms. When a person lies down to rest, the tension in the muscles of various parts of the body is called resting muscle tension. When the body stands, although there is no obvious muscle contraction, the front and back muscles of the body also maintain a certain tension to maintain the standing posture and body stability, which is called postural muscle tension. The tension of muscles during exercise is called motor muscle tension, which is an important factor in ensuring continuous and smooth muscle movement (without tremors, twitches, or spasms). High muscle tone is manifested as the lower limbs being extended, adducted, crossed, and scissor-shaped.

1. Symptoms

Children with high muscle tone are more irritable, startled by sounds, cry continuously, have difficulty falling asleep, have difficulty inserting their arms into sleeves when dressing, have difficulty opening their fists when bathing, and their whole body immediately becomes stiff when their lower limbs touch the corners of the bathtub or the water surface. Children with high muscle tone have their lower limbs extended, adducted and crossed, forming a scissor shape.

2. Main gait performance

1. Duck gait

When walking, the patient holds his back high and his belly protrudes, and his hips sway from side to side like a duck. This is a sign of progressive malnutrition, and can also be seen in rickets and congenital dislocation of the hip.

2. Scissor gait

The legs are stiff, the feet are crossed inward, and the knees are close together like scissors. The walking gait is small and slow, and the patient often walks on tiptoe like a ballet dancer. It is seen in bilateral brain or spinal cord lesions, such as cerebral palsy or familial spastic paraplegia.

3. Rooster gait

When standing, the thighs are close together, the calves are slightly separated, and the feet are standing on tiptoes. When walking, they walk on pointe like a ballet dancer. Seen in spinal cord lesions, such as inflammation, paraplegia, etc.

Above we have a certain understanding of "high muscle tone in children". When children are easily frightened and easily excited, take a long time to sleep, especially when their fists are clenched and difficult to open, and their bodies are stiff, we should pay attention to whether they have this disease. Of course, if they have duck, scissors, rooster or other gaits when walking, they should go to the hospital for examination and treatment immediately.