Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Gait ataxia
Inability to coordinate movements when walking
HP:0002066
What it means
A type of ataxia characterized by the impairment of the ability to coordinate the movements required for normal walking. Gait ataxia is characteirzed by a wide-based staggering gait with a tendency to fall.
Rare diseases that can present with this105
Very common80–99%
23- Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia-epilepsy-intellectual disability syndrome due to RUBCN deficiency
- Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia-epilepsy-intellectual disability syndrome due to WWOX deficiency
- Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia-movement disorder syndrome
- Autosomal recessive cerebelloparenchymal disorder type 3
- Autosomal recessive congenital cerebellar ataxia due to MGLUR1 deficiency
- Autosomal spastic paraplegia type 58
- Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome
- Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome
- PCNA-related progressive neurodegenerative photosensitivity syndrome
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 10
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 14
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 18
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 21
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 23
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 28
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 29
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 30
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 31
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 38
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6
- Sporadic adult-onset ataxia of unknown etiology
- Urocanic aciduria
- X-linked sideroblastic anemia and spinocerebellar ataxia
Common30–79%
56- 6q terminal deletion syndrome
- Aceruloplasminemia
- Acute infantile liver failure-cerebellar ataxia-peripheral sensory motor neuropathy syndrome
- Adult-onset autosomal dominant leukodystrophy
- Arnold-Chiari malformation type I
- Ataxia-telangiectasia-like disorder
- Atypical juvenile parkinsonism
- Atypical Rett syndrome
- Autosomal dominant dopa-responsive dystonia
- Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia due to CWF19L1 deficiency
- Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia with late-onset spasticity
- Autosomal recessive dopa-responsive dystonia
- Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia with leukoencephalopathy
- Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 76
- Autosomal recessive spinocerebellar ataxia-blindness-deafness syndrome
- Cerebellar ataxia, Cayman type
- Cerebellar ataxia with neuropathy and bilateral vestibular areflexia syndrome
- Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease-deafness-intellectual disability syndrome
- Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1F
- Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 4C
- Childhood-onset motor and cognitive regression syndrome with extrapyramidal movement disorder
- Christianson syndrome
- Congenital cerebellar ataxia due to RNU12 mutation
- Dentatorubral pallidoluysian atrophy
- Early-onset epilepsy-intellectual disability-brain anomalies syndrome
- Episodic ataxia with slurred speech
- Familial infantile bilateral striatal necrosis
- Hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy due to TECPR2 mutation
- Huntington disease-like 1
- Inherited Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- Intellectual disability-epilepsy-extrapyramidal syndrome
- Juvenile Huntington disease
- Juvenile-onset diabetes mellitus-central and peripheral neurodegeneration syndrome
- Marchiafava-Bignami disease
- Megalencephaly-severe kyphoscoliosis-overgrowth syndrome
- Metachromatic leukodystrophy, late infantile form
- Mitochondrial DNA-associated Leigh syndrome
- Multiple system atrophy
- Multiple system atrophy, cerebellar type
- Neurodevelopmental delay-seizures-ophthalmic anomalies-osteopenia-cerebellar atrophy syndrome
- Northern epilepsy
- Paraneoplastic sensory ganglionopathy
- Pitt-Hopkins syndrome
- Posterior column ataxia-retinitis pigmentosa syndrome
- Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
- Rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism
- Ring chromosome 22 syndrome
- Roussy-Lévy syndrome
- Sandhoff disease, adult form
- Sensory ataxic neuropathy-dysarthria-ophthalmoparesis syndrome
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 13
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 15/16
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 25
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 27A
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 35
The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions, and Orphanet separately records 1 disease where this sign is specifically absent. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.
Part of the broader category
Also called: Ataxia of gait · Ataxic gait
Tracking symptoms like this for someone? Eleplan keeps symptoms, diagnoses, medications and every specialist in one plan.
Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.