• Jordan Perring, Ralph Mobbs, and Callum Betteridge.
• Department of Spinal Surgery, NeuroSpine Surgery Research Group, Sydney, Australia; Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
• World Neurosurg. 2020 Sep 1; 141: e55-e59.

ObjectiveQuantitative gait analysis has been established as a valuable tool for functional assessment and evaluation of intervention efficacy in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). We aimed to bolster the limited evidence on the specific aspects of gait that are altered in LSS.MethodsFifteen patients with LSS and 15 healthy subjects performed a 30-m-long walk. Gait was assessed by video recording. Four spatiotemporal parameters were compared between groups: cadence, gait velocity, step length, and step duration.ResultsCompared with healthy subjects, gait of patients with LSS demonstrated significant differences for all spatiotemporal parameters. Differences in mean cadence, step length, gait velocity, and step duration were -14%, -24%, -37%, and +16% between patients with LSS and healthy subjects.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated significant alterations in clinically measurable gait parameters in patients with LSS compared with healthy subjects. Future studies should assess the value of these gait parameters for objective clinical assessment of functional status and intervention efficacy through correlation with currently used subjective tools and comparison at preoperative and postoperative time points. Specific gait alterations identified in patients with LSS may be valuable for clinical objective assessment of functional status and intervention efficacy.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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