Locomotor Ataxia

Locomotor ataxia is being unable to accurately control one’s movements. Locomotion pertains to moving from place to place while ataxia refers to the inability to coordinate voluntary movements. This is caused by the deterioration of the spinal cord’s posterior white column. Those with this condition may walk in a jerky manner and not know where their limbs are when blindfolded. Specifically, the critical symptoms include stamping gait, swaying with eyes closed, and pupils that do not constrict under bright light.

It is important to take note of the symptoms which often lead to this impaired movement such as disturbances in the following reflexes: sensory (such as lightning pains), patellar-tendon (no knee-jerk movement), pupillary (color blindness), and urinal (from urinating too frequently to urinating seldomly). The later stage is characterized by disturbances in sexual desire (from having no sexual desire to having nocturnal emissions), gastric (vomiting and pain), mental (confusion and forgetfulness), and muscular (inability to have coordinated movements) functions. During the advanced stage, the patient is already paralytic; hence, bed-ridden.