Ataxia is a condition caused by problems in the part of the brain that controls coordination. Ataxia usually begins in early childhood, just as the child is learning to walk.

The hereditary ataxias are a group of rare inherited disorders that cause the brain and spinal cord to degenerate. They can affect a person anytime between infancy and adulthood. Major symptoms include a lack of coordination of the muscles used for voluntary movement.

There are many different causes for ataxia, ranging from inherited causes, infections, problems of the immune system to brain tumors and strokes. Chronic forms of ataxia are slowly progressive and are most often caused by a neurodegenerative disease process with a genetic cause.

Ataxia is at present incurable, and so the task facing most people who are diagnosed is one of learning to adjust their lives to coping.