Objective: To present 2 cases of psychogenic gait disorder in children.

Background: Psychogenic movement disorders are up to almost 5 % of patients presenting at specialist movement disorder units. Although well known and described in adults little attention has been drawn to psychogenic gait disorders in children. Therefore, we describe 2 cases of children who developed psychogenic gait disorder (PGD) after head trauma.

Methods: Description of 2 young patients with PGD and review of the literature.

Results: The first patient has been a 12 year old girl who developed 4 days after a fall from the bicycle vertigo and a bizarre gait with sway and instability moving her arms and tendency to fall but without falls. She has been There has been no previous psychiatric disease known. The secound patient has been a boy of 14 years who after a fall at home with a head trauma immediately developed vertigo and and instability of gait. Also his gait has been bizarre. He had previously been diagnosed with an attention deficit disorder. In both cases the neurological investigations as well as electrophysiology and MRI have been normal without signs of vestibular dysfunction. Both patients have been distractable showing normal sway and symptoms were fluctuating. Confrontation of the children and the parents with these results led to a rapid normalisation of gait in both cases.

Conclusions: Considering our patients history it has not been easy to make the diagnosis of PGD. Onset of gait abnormality has been suddenly and there have been variable time intervals since the head trauma. However, it is important to discuss PGD with the children and the parents and to evaluate psychiatric causes to initiate specific treatment.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/psychogenic-gait-disorders-in-children-report-of-2-cases/