ataxia

/ˈeɪˈtæksiə/

Ataxia is a medical condition that causes people's muscles to move involuntarily. Having trouble balancing can sometimes be a sign of ataxia.

If you suffer from ataxia, your muscles have stopped working together normally — you're not able to coordinate your movements the way you want to. Ataxia is a disorder of the nervous system that can be caused by many different conditions, including vitamin deficiency and inherited illnesses. In medical Latin, ataxia is "confusion or disorder," from the Greek taxis, "arrangement or order."

Definitions of ataxia

1. noun

   inability to coordinate voluntary muscle movements; unsteady movements and staggering gait
   synonyms: ataxy, dyssynergia, motor ataxia

   types:

   Friedreich's ataxia, herediatry spinal ataxia

   sclerosis of the posterior and lateral columns of the spinal cord; characterized by muscular weakness and abnormal gait; occurs in children

   hereditary cerebellar ataxia

   nervous disorder of late childhood and early adulthood; characterized by ataxic gait and hesitating or explosive speech and nystagmus

   type of:

   nervous disorder, neurological disease, neurological disorder

   a disorder of the nervous system