LATEROPULSION

LATEROPULSION, a symptom consisting of the fact that when a patient wishes to move sideways, they begin to shuffle their feet rapidly, take small steps, accelerate their pace, and cannot stop when they want to, but only when they encounter a natural obstacle—a table, wall, etc. In the absence of an obstacle, the patient falls. This symptom is analogous to pro- and retropulsion, but occurs less frequently than the latter, mainly in Parkinson's disease, but may also occur in other brain diseases (tumors, hemorrhages, etc.). L. depends on the disruption of functions not of the pyramidal, but of the extrapyramidal motor system. According to Oppenheim (Oppenheim), this symptom depends on the fact that in such patients, the ability to quickly bring voluntary muscles into a state of contraction or, conversely, relaxation is impaired, due to which they are unable to timely brake a movement that has been initiated. Lateropulsion is also called deviation to the side when walking forward; this symptom is observed in particular with lesions of pathways leading to the cerebellum; with lesions of the inferior cerebellar peduncles on one side, lateropulsion is observed toward the side of the lesion.