Neurological Physiotherapy for Ataxia

What is ataxia?

Ataxia is a condition that affects coordination, balance, and speech, making everyday tasks more challenging. It results from damage to the nervous system, often due to stroke, trauma or genetic factors. Physiotherapy for ataxia focuses on improving movement control, strength, and balance to improve mobility and independence. A tailored rehab plan can make a significant difference.

Ataxia can affect any part of the body, and can cause a range of movement and coordination difficulties, affecting daily activities. Symptoms vary depending on the type and severity of the condition.

Common symptoms include:

• Difficulty with fine motor tasks such as - writing, typing, sewing, doing buttons up on a shirt

• Unsteady Walking - causing difficulty grading your foot clearance

• Poor coordination

• Impaired balance and frequent falls - to maintain your balance many muscles need to continually contract to keep your centre of gravity inside your base of support. If you have difficulty with the grading of muscle contractions this will inevitably throw you off balance

• Slurred speech and difficulty speaking

• Trouble Swallowing

• Impaired Vision

As with many neurological conditions ataxia varies greatly from case to case therefor ethe exact symptoms and their severity can vary greatly.

Types of Ataxia

There are many different types of ataxia, which can be divided into three broad categories:

• Acquired Ataxia – these symptoms develop after some sort of trauma, a stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), a brain tumour, nutritional deficiencies, or other conditions that damage the brain or nervous system.

• Hereditary Ataxia – these symptoms develop slowly over many years secondary to genetic factors.

• Idiopathic late-onset Cerebellar Ataxia – In this case brain degenerates over time for reasons that are unclear

What causes ataxia?

Ataxia most commonly occurs as a result of damage to the cerebellum however it can also develop as a result of damage to other parts of the nervous system. This damage could be secondary to a stroke, MS, trauma to the brain or other genetic predisposing factors. Additionally other factors like the abuse of alcohol has been found to cause ataxia symptoms.

How ataxia is treated

The best way to treat ataxia is with a multidisciplinary approach. As mentioned before each person suffering from ataxia will have their own unique presentation of symptoms. Therefor it is important to get the right therapists involved to treat these deficits. Your rehabilitation team may include:

• Medical

• Physiotherapy

• Speech Pathology

• Occupational Therapy

• Exercise Physiology

If you’re looking for an NDIS Physio near you, don't hesitate to contact us on (08) 8267 6432 or physio@bodyfit.life for further information or guidance. At Body Fit Physiotherapy, we provide NDIS physiotherapy services and also offer home visits with no travel charge.