Patients with cerebellar damage have impaired motor learning, but their ataxia, gait, and ADL can be improved.

The effect of medication and surgery depends on the cause of ataxia and extent of neuronal damage however, there is no radical treatment for these diseases yet. The intervention for rehabilitation includes medication, surgery, and physical therapy. Intervention is provided to patients with cerebellar ataxia to recover motor function and ADL. Therefore, if the cerebellum is damaged, then these functions are disturbed, and dysmetria, tremor, rebound phenomenon, dysdiadochokinesia, dyssynergia, and hypotonia. Furthermore, the cerebellum has an important role in motor learning and adaptation. The cerebellum contributes to sensory motor control, gait, and balance for maintenance of upright posture. In contrast, these can have several causes in children, such as infection and tumor. When the cerebellum is damaged, activity of daily living (ADL) is disturbed in patients with the ataxia owing to diseases, such as spinocerebellar degeneration, multiple sclerosis (MS), and stroke.

Incoordination and balance dysfunction in movements without muscle weakness are the most accepted definition of ataxia, which has three subcategories: sensory, vestibular, and 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. 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. 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. Some systematic reviews and randomized control trial studies, which were searched in the electronic databases using terms “ataxia” and “physical therapy,” enable a strategy for physical therapy for cerebellar ataxia. The aim of this article was to provide a narrative review of the previous reports on physical therapy for mainly cerebellar ataxia offering various opinions.

Ataxia, the incoordination and balance dysfunction in movements without muscle weakness, causes gait and postural disturbance in patients with stroke, multiple sclerosis, and degeneration in the cerebellum.

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