Hm. Abdulhadi et Dc. Kerrigan, CAMPTOCORMIA - A BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS - A CASE-REPORT, American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation, 75(4), 1996, pp. 310-313
Although camptocormia, a conversion disorder associated with the disab
ility of severely forward-bent posture, has been reported in the liter
ature, to date there has been no report of a detailed kinematic or bio
mechanical analysis of this disability. Presented is a 47-yr-old male
engineer with severely forward-bent posture during walking. One year a
go, after playing tennis, he developed low back pain followed by a sen
sation that to walk comfortably he had to assume a forward-bent postur
e. Two months later, although the low back pain had resolved, he maint
ained the same unusual walking pattern. Although he could walk a few s
teps in the upright position, he would spontaneously revert to the for
ward-bent posture. Physical examination was normal except for bilatera
l 10 degrees hip flexion contractures. Gait laboratory analysis, inclu
ding kinematics, kinetics, and dynamic electromyography, revealed exag
gerated anterior pelvic tilt during terminal stance when he walked in
an upright posture. In the forward-bent posture, however, this anterio
r pelvic tilt was significantly less. It is possible that his unusual
forward-bent posture was a compensatory mechanism to reduce excessive
pelvic tilt. Although this rare disability has been previously attribu
ted to a conversion disorder, there may be, in some instances, a biome
chanical component.