Ataxia describes a lack of muscle coordination during voluntary movements, such as walking or picking up objects. Ataxia can affect your movements, your speech, your eye movements and your ability to swallow.

Persistent ataxia usually results from damage to your cerebellum- the part of your brain that controls muscle coordination. Many conditions may cause ataxia, including stroke, tumor, cerebral palsy and alcohol abuse. It’s also possible to inherit a defective gene that may cause one of many ataxia variants.

A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functioning properly.

Cerebral palsy is a disorder of movement, muscle tone or posture that is caused by an injury to the immature, developing brain, most often before birth.

Signs and symptoms appear during infancy or preschool years. In general, cerebral palsy causes impaired movement associated with exaggerated reflexes, floppiness or rigidity of the limbs and trunk, abnormal posture, involuntary movements, unsteadiness of walking, or some combination of these.

People with cerebral palsy often have underlying developmental brain abnormalities.

Toe walking refers to a condition where a person walks on their toes without putting much or any weight on the heel or any other part of the foot. This term also includes the inability to connect one’s foot fully to the ground while in the standing phase of the walking cycle. Toe walking in toddlers is common. Children who toe walk as toddlers commonly adopt a heel-toe walking pattern as they grow older. If a child continues to walk on their toes past the age of three, or can’t get their heels to the ground at all, they should be evaluated by a health professional who is experienced in assessing children’s walking.