Cerebellar Ataxia Case Study

For this particular case study, the patient was selected not because of the diagnosis of bilateral knee pain, but for prior history of cerebellar ataxia. Cerebellar ataxia is a condition that presents with abnormal, uncoordinated movements. Ataxic gait, an unsteady, staggering gait, typically occurs with this condition. In the patient’s initial evaluation, the medical diagnosis was pain in right knee (M25.561) and pain in left knee (M25.562). The patient’s treatment diagnosis, given by the physical therapist (PT), was pain in right & left knee, generalized muscle weakness (M62.81), and unspecified abnormalities of gait and mobility (R26.9). The patient was previously scheduled for a left total knee arthoplasty (TKA), but did not receive surgery …show more content…
Every intervention that was provided and completed by this patient was documented on a flow sheet as well as transcribed on to WebPT into the patient’s chart. A daily note was written every day, and progress notes were completed every ninth or tenth session. In the PT’s initial evaluation, it was stated that this patient should receive therapeutic exercise, therapeutic activity, gait training, neuromuscular rehabilitation, manual therapy, aquatic therapy, and patient education. During each session, every one of these procedures was performed except manual …show more content…
They discovered that “temporal and spatial gait variability in the fore–aft, but not medio-lateral, direction of locomotion depends on walking speed in patients with cerebellar ataxia”, meaning that patients had more variability in ambulating forwards and backwards than side to side. They identified these findings, and the parameters they had set to come to this conclusion, associated with fall history which in turn helps with identification of patients with high fall