Physical Therapy for Cerebellar Ataxia

Akiyoshi Matsugi (2017). Physical Therapy for Cerebellar Ataxia, Neurological Physical Therapy, Prof. Toshiaki Suzuki (Ed.), InTech, ISBN 978-953-51-3114-4, Print ISBN 978-953-51-3113-7, Published: May 10, 2017 under CC BY 3.0 license.

Intensive physical therapy more than 1 hour per day for at least 4 weeks, focused on balance, gait, and strength training in hospital and home for patients with degenerative cerebellar ataxia can improve ataxia, gait ability, and activity of daily living. Furthermore, the weighting on the torso, using treadmill, noninvasive brain stimulation over the cerebellum for neuromodulation to facilitate motor learning, and neurophysiological assessment have a potential to improve the effect of physical therapy on cerebellar ataxia. Previous findings indicated that physical therapy is time restricted; therefore, its long-term effect and the effect of new optional neurophysiological methods should be studied.