Gait imbalance in individuals with chronic mild traumatic brain injury

Mounting evidence reveals deficits in dynamic gait balance control persist in individuals with acute mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) when assessed with sensitive whole body center of mass (COM) kinematics and a dual-task (DT) paradigm [1]. In this preliminary study eight veterans with symptoms of chronic mTBI were compared to eight uninjured veterans. Veterans with chronic mTBI had a greater medial-lateral (ML) COM displacement and faster peak ML COM velocity when compared to healthy veterans in the DT condition. As no differences were detected in gait temporal distance metrics, these results suggest sensitive gait analysis should be included in the management of this population to both improve care and prevent the adverse effects of long-term balance impairment.