Patient’s description: 54 years old patient with Ataxia (following brain tumor surgery).
1. The patient was asked to lift her leg to a higher stair and back down, without using the handrails. Due to difficulty in movement control and balance, the patient performs the exercise fast and lands her foot loudly.
2. Before she performs the exercise with her other leg, the patient needs to take time to re-plan her movement. This makes her slightly lose balance. In her first try the patient loses some control over the movement due to her ataxia, and touches the third step.
3. The patient stands with a wide base of support during the entire exercise, which is very typical to ataxic patients. The PT asks her to put her feet closer together, to narrow her base of support.
4. This increases the patient’s sway. She struggles to accurately land her foot next to the other, and must correct its position.
Video guide 34
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