Ataxia
Ataxia is shakiness, stiffness and clumsiness in moving, often with difficulty in controlling posture and balance, and slurring of speech. It is similar to being drunk. There are a number of causes.
Some, such as Freidreich's Ataxia, are hereditary and present in adolescence, others are due to exposure to drugs or chronic alcohol abuse, vitamin deficiency, or infection - classically (though rare in the developed world) late stage syphilis. In the elderly it may be due to shrinkage of that part of our brain - the cerebellum - involved in fine-tuning our movements. The cause is unknown.
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