What is Ataxia: Meaning, Types, Symptoms and Causes

Ataxia is a condition that occurs when people have trouble coordinating their muscles. This leads to awkward or clumsy movements. It is possible that this condition is developed from a combination of various symptoms or develops on its own.

The treatment of this disease is possible, but it depends on how it happened. If you want to gather more information on this medical condition, keep reading till the end.

A group of disorders that impact coordination, balance and speech is collectively called ataxia. For those who get affected, it becomes difficult to walk, maintain balance or even have proper eye movements.

There are primarily three types of Ataxia, those include:

• Cerebellar: A cerebellar ataxia results from certain problems of the cerebellum.
• Sensory: A human body has a “self-positioning” sense that allows the brain to track each body part.  Hence, a sensory ataxia hinders your self-positioning sense.
• Vestibular: This type of ataxia develops from your problems in the inner ear. Moreover, it results in the imbalance of your body and makes coordinating difficult.

In this condition, any body parts can hinder. However, people affected with this disorder mostly have difficulties with speaking, walking, swallowing, muscle movements, etc.

The disorder usually results from damage to a specific part of the brain, the cerebellum.  This is because the cerebellum is responsible for maintaining balance in our body. Nonetheless, three major causes of ataxia are degenerative, acquired and hereditary causes.

1. Degenerative Causes

The degenerative causes of ataxia are as follows:

• Multiple system atrophy
• Paraneoplastic syndromes

2. Acquired Causes

The Acquired causes of ataxia are as follows:

• Alcohol consumption
• Prolonged medications
• Poisoning
• Deficiency in vitamins
• Thyroid issues
• Stroke
• Multiple sclerosis
• Autoimmune disorders
• Certain infections like chickenpox, Lyme disease, HIV, covid-19
• Brain abnormalities
• Trauma in brain
• Cerebral palsy

3. Hereditary Causes

Sources have stated that some causes of ataxia and conditions that trigger this disorder are hereditary. If you are born with any of them, the mutated gene in your body will produce irregular proteins.

These unnecessary proteins restrict the proper functioning of the nerve cells, primarily in the cerebellum and spinal cord. Henceforth, causing degenerative diseases, along with their progression, the patient's condition aggravates.

Diagnosing this disorder is challenging because it can either happen over time or all of a sudden. Nonetheless, here are some of the symptoms of ataxia to look for:

• Weak coordination
• Unsteady walking
• Imbalance
• Finding it hard to do tasks involving fine motor skills
• Change in the way of speaking
• Involuntary movement of the eyes
• Problem in swallowing

If you reach out to your doctor for ataxia, they will look for any treatable cause. After following up with the routine blood cultures, doctors will conduct a physical and neurological exam. They will also examine your vision, reflexes, balance and coordination.

In some cases, the doctors can ask for specific imaging, lumbar puncture and genetic testing. Let’s find out why these are necessary for ataxia treatment.

• Blood Tests: These are the primary requisites that help identify any treatable cause in the first place.
• MRI: An MRI helps find the potential causes of ataxia. Through this image studying, experts can identify if there is any shrinkage of the cerebellum. Moreover, if there are any other abnormalities like blood clots or tumours, MRI helps see them.
• Lumbar Puncture: Not all patients with ataxia need lumbar puncture; in some cases of ataxia, doctors prescribe a spinal tap. This procedure involves a small incision with a needle in the lumbar or lower back region. The purpose is to extract a small sample of the cerebrospinal fluid. Doctors then test to find if there are any causes related to ataxia.
• Genetic Testing: This is only suggested if doctors find the ataxia condition to be hereditary. Then, genetic testing is done to find whether there is any kind of genetic mutation that causes one of the ataxic conditions.

Unlike other disorders, ataxia is a rare condition with no fixed treatment. This is because there are many scopes that can cause this disease. Sometimes, doctors only treat the underlying cause that triggers ataxia, which also results in treating the condition. On the other hand, ataxia developed from viral infections is known to get cured on its own. However, healthcare experts can recommend other methods to treat ataxia if the condition worsens.  Some of the effective ways to deal with this disease are listed below:

• Use of adaptive devices like hiking sticks or walkers, modified utensils and communication aids.
• Therapies include physical, operational and speech. Combining all these three kinds can help regain mobility and confidence and improve speaking.
• Aerobic exercises are also proven helpful in certain scenarios.
• Providing mental support in coping can help extensively. Counselling and participating in support groups are some good examples to start.