It is the unsteady, staggering, and cautious gait of cerebellar ataxia: totally irregular in rate, range, and
direction. This is accompanied by swaying to one side or the other, so that patients often look for something to lean on, whether a cane, bed rail, or even the wall. Balance typically fails when attempting to walk heel to
toe. Stance is widened, but not enough to prevent staggering. Titubation while standing worsens considerably when patients are asked to close their feet together, causing wobbling and even falling. Still, in contrast to sensory ataxia, opening (or closing) of the eyes neither improves nor destabilizes stance. Since the cerebellum is responsible for proper balance and posture, a cerebellar gait results from either cerebellar disease or alcohol intoxication. Hence, it differs from sensory ataxia since it is associated with other signs of cerebellar deficit, like dysmetria, dysarthria, nystagmus, hypotonia, and intention tremor.
direction. This is accompanied by swaying to one side or the other, so that patients often look for something to lean on, whether a cane, bed rail, or even the wall. Balance typically fails when attempting to walk heel to
toe. Stance is widened, but not enough to prevent staggering. Titubation while standing worsens considerably when patients are asked to close their feet together, causing wobbling and even falling. Still, in contrast to sensory ataxia, opening (or closing) of the eyes neither improves nor destabilizes stance. Since the cerebellum is responsible for proper balance and posture, a cerebellar gait results from either cerebellar disease or alcohol intoxication. Hence, it differs from sensory ataxia since it is associated with other signs of cerebellar deficit, like dysmetria, dysarthria, nystagmus, hypotonia, and intention tremor.