For parents, watching their child struggle with balance, coordination, and speech can be a heart-wrenching experience. The uncertainty and frustration that come with an ataxia diagnosis can leave families feeling overwhelmed and helpless.
Ataxia is a group of conditions affecting the nervous system and impacts 26 out of 100,000 children, making even the most basic daily tasks challenging.
Additionally, we believe there are thousands of children who struggle with motor planning, tone, and coordination in significant ways—just not severe enough to receive an official diagnosis like ataxia. However, their challenges are still serious enough to impact their quality of life and overall brain development, which is deeply connected to healthy motor function and coordination.
As prevalent as ataxia is, there remains a significant lack of understanding about the condition, its causes, and the most effective care approaches. Conventional medical care still focuses on the muscular component of ataxia, rather than addressing the underlying neurological dysfunction. However, once parents begin to understand ataxia at a deeper level like this article provides, they can have their hope significantly restored and be on the path to better results and a greatly improved quality of life!
What is Ataxia?
Ataxia is a term used to describe a group of conditions that affect the nervous system, resulting in problems with coordination, balance, and speech. Individuals with ataxia often experience difficulty with tasks that require fine motor control, such as writing or buttoning a shirt, as well as activities that involve gross motor skills, like walking or maintaining balance.
There are three main types of ataxia:
- Acquired ataxia: This type of ataxia develops as a result of damage to the brain or nervous system caused by factors such as trauma, stroke, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, nutritional deficiencies, or other underlying health conditions.
- Hereditary ataxia: In this type of ataxia, signs develop gradually over many years and are caused by genetic mutations inherited from parents, such as episodic ataxia. The most common form of hereditary ataxia is Friedreich’s ataxia.
- Idiopathic late-onset cerebellar ataxia (ILOCA): This type of cerebellar ataxia is characterized by progressive damage to the brain over time, with no clear underlying cause. While ILOCA remains idiopathic, it is often distinguished from genetically linked conditions such as spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA), which also lead to cerebellar degeneration but are caused by specific genetic mutations. SCA is estimated to affect between 15,000 and 20,000 people in the United States.
Regardless of the type of ataxia, affected individuals may experience a range of signs, including:
- Balance and walking difficulties: People with ataxia often have trouble maintaining balance and may walk with an unsteady, wide-based gait.
- Speech and swallowing problems: Ataxia can cause slurred speech and difficulty swallowing (dysphagia).
- Fine motor skill deterioration: Tasks requiring precise control, such as writing or eating with utensils, may become increasingly challenging.
- Eye movement abnormalities: Some individuals with ataxia may experience abnormal eye movements, such as nystagmus (rapid, involuntary eye movements).
- Tremors: Involuntary trembling or shaking may affect various parts of the body.
The severity and progression of these traits can vary depending on the specific type of ataxia and the individual affected. Understanding the different types and manifestations of ataxia is crucial for developing targeted, effective care plans that address the unique needs of each patient.
The Neurological Basis of Ataxia
To fully understand ataxia and its impact on the body, it is essential to explore the neurological structures and processes that underlie this condition. Central to the discussion of ataxia is the cerebellum and brainstem region, a crucial part of the brain responsible for coordinating movement, balance, and fine motor control.
The cerebellum receives input from various sensory systems, including vision, proprioception (the sense of body position and movement), and the vestibular system (which regulates balance and spatial orientation). It integrates this information to fine-tune motor commands and ensure smooth, coordinated movements. When the cerebellum or its connections to other brain regions are damaged, the result is often the characteristic traits of ataxia, such as unsteady gait, poor coordination, and difficulty with precise movements.
Damage to the cerebellum, brainstem, and spinal cord can occur through various mechanisms, including stroke, tumors, and neurodegenerative diseases. However, one often-overlooked factor that can contribute to cerebellar dysfunction is birth-trauma induced subluxation.
Can Birth Trauma Lead to Ataxia?
Yes, birth trauma and subluxation can absolutely contribute to neurological patterns that resemble or even lead to ataxia, especially in infants and young children.
During birth—especially if it’s difficult, prolonged, involves forceps/vacuum, C-section, or cord complications—there can be significant mechanical and neurological stress placed on the infant’s upper neck, brainstem, and spinal cord.
This can lead to:
- Subluxation: A stress response within the neurospinal system that causes interference to the central and autonomic nervous system.
- Sympathetic dominance & dysautonomia: Keeping the body in “fight or flight” mode and disrupting proper regulation.
- Disrupted proprioception and motor signaling: Making it hard for the brain and body to communicate clearly, leading to coordination challenges.
While not always leading to a diagnosable form of ataxia, many children exhibit ataxia-like symptoms such as:
- Poor balance or clumsiness
- Low or fluctuating muscle tone
- Difficulty crawling, walking, or coordinating movements
- Trouble with speech or eye movements (in cerebellar-linked cases)
In more severe or prolonged cases, these subluxation patterns can contribute to the neurological dysfunction behind true ataxia.
The good news? Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care works to restore nervous system function, improve regulation, and stimulate key brain regions (like the cerebellum and brainstem) through gentle, specific adjustments. This can dramatically help with coordination, tone, and motor planning—especially when care is started early.
Subluxations are areas of misalignment or reduced mobility in the spine that can disrupt normal nerve function and communication between the brain and body. When subluxations occur in the cervical spine (neck) or other regions of the neurospinal region that directly influence the cerebellum and its connections, they can lead to neurological dysfunction that underlies ataxia signs.
Subluxations can cause irritation and interference in the delicate nerve pathways that carry information to and from the cerebellum. This disruption can lead to altered sensory input, impaired motor control, and difficulty with balance and coordination. Over time, chronic subluxations may contribute to further neurological deterioration and the progression of ataxia signs.
By understanding the neurological basis of ataxia and the potential role of subluxations in this condition, healthcare providers can develop more targeted, effective approaches to care. Addressing the underlying nervous system dysregulation through techniques such as Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care may help to restore proper cerebellar function and improve outcomes for individuals with ataxia.
Limitations of Conventional Ataxia Care
Conventional medical and therapeutic approaches to ataxia often focus on the muscular component only, often missing the deeper, foundational role that subluxation and nervous system dysfunction play. While medications and therapies can provide some relief, they may also come with significant limitations and potential side effects.
One common approach to managing ataxia traits is the use of medication. Drugs such as benzodiazepines, antispasmodics, and antidepressants may be prescribed to help with issues like muscle spasms, tremors, and mood disturbances. However, these medications often come with a range of potential side effects, including:
- Drowsiness and fatigue
- Cognitive impairment and memory issues
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Dizziness and balance issues
- Dependence and withdrawal signs
In some cases, the side effects of these medications can actually worsen ataxia signs or contribute to further neurological dysfunction.
Physical and occupational therapy are commonly used to help individuals with ataxia manage their signs and maintain independence. While beneficial for teaching adaptive strategies and promoting strength, these therapies may not address the root causes of neurological dysfunction. They often overlook the complex interplay of factors like prenatal stress, birth trauma, and early childhood stressors. By focusing only on managing traits, these approaches might miss opportunities for genuine healing by neglecting underlying nervous system imbalances and dysfunction.
To truly support individuals with ataxia, a more comprehensive, Neurologically-Focused approach is needed. This approach should aim to identify and address the root causes of ataxia, such as subluxations and nervous system dysfunction, rather than simply working on muscular components. By promoting healthy neurological function and supporting the body’s natural healing processes, this approach may offer new hope for those struggling with ataxia.
The PX Docs Approach to Ataxia Care
We recognize the limitations of conventional approaches to ataxia care and believe that a more foundational, Neurologically-Focused approach is necessary to promote true healing and recovery. Our approach centers on identifying and addressing subluxation and nervous system dysregulation through Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care.
Using advanced diagnostic tools like INSiGHT scans, our practitioners can pinpoint areas of neurological dysfunction and develop customized care plans and adjustments that are tailored to each individual’s unique needs. These scans look deeper into brainstem and neurospinal patterns of dysfunction and imbalance, and can help explain ataxia-related symptoms and challenges at a much deeper level than any other form of exam or testing.
These scans provide valuable information about the function of the nervous system, allowing us to target specific areas of subluxation and imbalance that may be contributing to ataxia signs. As one may expect, these subluxation and neuromuscular distortion or imbalance patterns are often quite severe in true ataxia patients.
Below is an example of a patient struggling with severely imbalanced and dysfunctional neuromotor tone, coordination, and overall development. This is a NeuroSpinal EMG Scan which measures incoming proprioceptive input into the brainstem and cerebellum direction, starting at the top of the spine and working our way down to the sacrum.
The upper left scan not only clearly indicates significant hypertonicity and increased sympathetic tone in the brainstem, cervical, and lumbopelvic regions (red colored bars), but also clearly shows another common subluxation pattern found in ataxia and other motor tone and coordination challenged patients – an exhausted, weakened core (shorter white and yellow bars in the lower thoracic and lumbar regions).
Then from there we can see the most significant and correlated issue – severe counter-torque and asymmetry in the brainstem, cerebellum, and upper neck region found on the lower left Asymmetry View.
The lower right Pattern View puts this all together and also brings what we call “Neuro-Metrics” into the equation to make it easy for parents to understand. This child has an EMG Pattern Score of just 53.2 and an EMG Symmetry score of just 63.5, when both should be 85 and above for healthy and optimal motor tone, coordination, and planning.
Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic adjustments work to restore proper alignment, movement, and neuromotor tone and coordination via gentle, precise adjustments done over the course of a specific, customized care plan.
These adjustments can often target the foundational neurological dysfunction at a deeper level than traditional physical or occupational therapies can, facilitating not only incredible levels of healing and improvement on its own, but also then in turn helping the patient get far more benefit and gain from those therapies and other interventions.
Empowering Families to Take Action and Dive Deeper
If you or a loved one is struggling with ataxia, it’s essential to remember that there is hope for further neurological healing and improved quality of life! By consulting with a trained and experienced Neurologically-Focused Pediatric Chiropractor, you can start to not only understand ataxia at a deeper level, but also target its root cause at that deepest, foundational level.
The PX Docs approach to ataxia care represents a paradigm shift in the way we think about and care for this condition. By focusing on the root causes of neurological dysfunction and promoting optimal nervous system function, we aim to provide hope and solutions for those struggling with ataxia that go far beyond the traditional approach!
If you’re ready to take the first step towards better health and well-being, we invite you to visit the PX Docs Directory and find a qualified practitioner in your area. With the right care and support, it is possible to overcome the challenges of ataxia and embrace a brighter, more vibrant future.
