ABSTRACT
Ataxia means irregularity, disorderliness or incoordination. The term is from the ancient Greek, and can be found in the writings of Hippocrates. Since the late nineteenth century, ataxia has been used more narrowly to describe an incoordination of movement of cerebellar or proprioceptive origin. An important problem of that era was to distinguish the locomotor ataxia of tabes dorsalis (neurosyphilis) from the various forms of hereditary ataxia and spinocerebellar degeneration described by Friedreich1 and Marie.2 The classic descriptions of cerebellar ataxia come from studies done by Holmes3 at the beginning of the twentieth century on patients with gunshot injuries to the posterior fossa. He described the gait in these patients as irregular, slow and halting. There is a wide base of support and a tendency to stumble off to the affected side. Patients are unable to balance when attempting to walk tandem, heel to toe.3
