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Apr. 5th, 2012
For you medical types
Apr. 5th, 2012 02:45 pmFrom the NYT: Think Like a Doctor: A Crooked Walk
The Medical Mystery: Can you solve the case of a young woman with an odd gait and slowly progressive weakness in her hips and legs?
The Presenting Problem:
A 27-year-old woman seeks medical attention after her mother notices the odd way she walks up the stairs.
The Patient’s Story:
The young woman lived a couple of states away from her mother but visited every few months. During one visit, the mother was following her up the staircase and was struck by how odd her daughter’s version of this simple, everyday action looked. Her slender frame rocked from side to side as she moved up the steps. It was as if she had to lift her entire body to bring each leg up. Her mother wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong, but she was certain it wasn’t right.
At first her daughter refused to acknowledge that there was anything wrong. She felt fine. And if the stairs did seem a little tougher lately, she told her mother, it was because she hadn’t been working out. But she didn’t hold out for long. Her friends had made jokes about the way she walked up stairs. And she had noticed a few worrisome things herself. That winter she’d gone skiing, and on the slopes even the easiest moves — maneuvers she’d mastered as a child — seemed strangely difficult. She couldn’t turn; she couldn’t even snowplow. She went to her regular doctor, who promptly sent her to a neurologist.
Test results etc.
The Medical Mystery: Can you solve the case of a young woman with an odd gait and slowly progressive weakness in her hips and legs?
The Presenting Problem:
A 27-year-old woman seeks medical attention after her mother notices the odd way she walks up the stairs.
The Patient’s Story:
The young woman lived a couple of states away from her mother but visited every few months. During one visit, the mother was following her up the staircase and was struck by how odd her daughter’s version of this simple, everyday action looked. Her slender frame rocked from side to side as she moved up the steps. It was as if she had to lift her entire body to bring each leg up. Her mother wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong, but she was certain it wasn’t right.
At first her daughter refused to acknowledge that there was anything wrong. She felt fine. And if the stairs did seem a little tougher lately, she told her mother, it was because she hadn’t been working out. But she didn’t hold out for long. Her friends had made jokes about the way she walked up stairs. And she had noticed a few worrisome things herself. That winter she’d gone skiing, and on the slopes even the easiest moves — maneuvers she’d mastered as a child — seemed strangely difficult. She couldn’t turn; she couldn’t even snowplow. She went to her regular doctor, who promptly sent her to a neurologist.
Test results etc.