Ataxias
According to the National Ataxia Foundation, ataxia affects an estimated 150,000 Americans. Ataxia can strike anyone at any time regardless of age, gender, or race.

The term ataxia refers to a group of progressive neurological diseases that affect coordination and speech. Ataxias are often characterized by poor coordination of hands, speech, and eye movements, and a wide-based, uncoordinated, and unsteady gait. 

Ataxias can be associated with infections, injuries, other diseases, or degenerative changes in the central nervous system. For example, ataxia is often a symptom of other medical conditions like head injury, stroke, and multiple sclerosis.

There are numerous forms of ataxia, but for our purposes here they can be classified into two distinct groups:

• Hereditary ataxias affect the cerebellum and spinal cord and are passed from one generation to the next through a defective gene. The two most common types of hereditary ataxia are Friedreich's (recessive) ataxia and Marie's (dominant) ataxia. Other types include: Machado-Joseph disease, ataxia with opthalmoplegia, spinopontine atrophy, ataxia with etinopathy, and slow-eye movement ataxia.
  
• Sporadic ataxias occur spontaneously in individuals with no known family history of ataxia.  There are many forms of sporadic ataxia including spastic ataxia, Menzel’s ataxia, Holmes’ ataxia, sporadic atrophy, and most commonly sporadic OPCA, or sporadic olivopontocerebellar atrophy. Sporadic ataxia is very difficult to diagnose, and your neurologist will need to rule out the possibility of hereditary ataxia before making a final diagnosis.